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CREDO 

(I BELIEVE) 
OR 

THE APOSTLES' CREED 



Viewed in a Series of Sermons 

By 

R. NEUMANN, D. D. 

H 
Pastor of Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church 
Burlington, Iowa 



"Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man 
take thy crown." Rev. 3:11. 



1916 

THE GERMAN LITERARY BOARD 

BURLINGTON, IOWA 



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Copyright 1916 
By R. NEUMANN 

BURLINGTON, IOWA 




M 191917 

©CI.A453697 



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CONTENTS. 



Page. 

I. Special Features of the Apostles' Creed . 9 

II. God, the Father Almighty 23 

III. Maker of Heaven and Earth 37 

IV. Jesus Christ and His Kedemptive Work 51 

V. The Eesurrection and Ascension, With 

Accompanying Events 65 

VI. The Holy Ghost and the Church ... 81 

VII. The Forgiveness of Sins 99 

VIII. The Life Everlasting 115 



I 

SPECIAL FEATURES OP THE 
APOSTLES' CREED 



TEXTS 



Romans 10: 9,10 

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord 
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath 
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with 
the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with 
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

Matthew 10:32-33 

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, 
him will I confess also before my Father which is in 
heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him 
will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. 



I 

SPECIAL FEATUKES OF THE 
APOSTLES' CEEED 

It is our purpose to consider the Apostles' Creed 
in a series of popular discourses. This old and funda- 
mental confession of faith is well worthy of our atten- 
tion and high appreciation. We certainly so regard 
it ; for we still repeat it in all our public services, our 
children are baptized in this faith, and you all who 
have pledged loyalty to Christ in your confirmation 
have so done by publicly declaring that this confes- 
sion embraces the real belief of your souls. 

There are persons who regard this venerable 
statement of Christian doctrine as only an old ruin of 
days gone by, and as not having in it sufficient value 
for us modern people of the twentieth century to be 
longer retained by the Church. Some there are who 
loudly demand a creed corresponding to the progres- 
sive thought of the times. Still others wish to con- 
struct their own system of religious doctrine. But 
much the larger number refuse to accept any set form 
of faith; quoting, in support of their peculiar view, 
the words of Faust : 

"Who dare name? 
And who proclaim! 
'Tis feeling all! 5 ' 

9 



Now we find the judgment of our Lord Jesus 
Christ differing widely from all these notions. He 
says, "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him 
will I confess also before my Father which is in 
heaven.'' Saint Paul, the Apostle, even makes salva- 
tion dependent upon confession with the mouth. To 
be sure, such oral confession must be most intimately 
and indissolubly connected with a heart-felt faith. 
Confession with the mouth should be both an expres- 
sion and a test of real belief. In this sense then of 
Jesus, as interpreted by the Apostles, we shall try to 
present this old symbol of Christian doctrine. It is, 
as we shall consider it, especially in this our first ser- 
mon, the natural expression of sincere faith, the bond 
of felloicship among Christians, and the victorious 
banner in our conflict ivith error. 

1. — The Natural Expression of 
Sincere Faith 

A confession of faith is not the same as the 
WORD of GOD. If thus regarded, it is invested with 
a false dignity. Rather let us say that a confession 
is man's answer to God's Word. A creed is subordin- 
ate to that Word; it is tested and proved by it. 
Neither is a confession when properly understood, a 
yoke imposed by the Church or Synod upon pastors 
and people, without their consent. God forbid! A 
creed should be the natural expression of real belief. 
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak- 
eth." Faith that fills the heart, both humbling and 
blessing it, cannot but express itself toward God. 
Viewed in this light, every prayer is a confession of 
faith in God's omnipotence, omnipresence and love. 

10 



Even in one's association with his fellow-men that 
principle holds good. It is a matter of gratitude for 
the God-given possession of truth, a matter of sin- 
cerity and courage, for one, when meeting with peo- 
ple, not to withhold the most important part of his 
belief. Besides, it becomes a matter of genuine love 
for one to impart unto others that which makes him 
happy. Of course, a confession that lacks the roots 
of heart-felt belief, one that consists only in certain 
forms — repeated it may be from sheer habit, or even 
with hypocritical intent — is worthless. We know of 
times in the past when the danger of this sort of con- 
fession was particularly great. In these days, how- 
ever, of personal freedom and of the assertion of in- 
dividuality, such peril is slight. More frequently do 
we find among people in these days the absence of any 
kind of religious creed, than that they hold to a con- 
fession that is external and insincere. But by refus- 
ing to accept of some doctrinal statement you show a 
lack of conviction ; or else, by your antipathy towards 
all creeds, you give evidence of not being clear as to 
your belief. Or, let us say that, by concealing your 
faith, you become guilty of exercising a false reserve. 
But supposing that in your case none of these 
possibilities applies, and that you do not hesitate 
either in things material to express your opinion or 
in things spiritual to express your faith, to what then 
do you confess? A great variety of creeds is possible, 
and there is such a thing as heresy. Therefore your 
creed may be false. Do you confess, with Paul, that 
Jesus Christ is Lord? That is the only confession 
conforming fully with truth. It is, and must always 
remain, the essence of every genuine creed, be its form 
never so varied and its parts never so manifold. The 

11 



confession that Jesus Christ is Lord is the watch- 
word, the reflex, the echo, of a faith that has felt the 
glory of the Risen Saviour. The deeper one's experi- 
ence is, the richer and more complete will be his con- 
fession. This applies alike to the individual and his 
confession and to the Church and her confessions. 

The practice of confessing one's faith is found in 
the Christian Church from the very beginning. The 
first witness of the kind was Peter's extraordinary 
exclamation: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
living God." The oldest vestige of what may be called 
a public confession, is found in I Tim. 6 :12 : "Lay 
hold of eternal life, whereunto thou art called, and 
hast professed a good confession before many wit- 
nesses." In the early days of Christianity, applicants 
for baptism were accustomed to make a confession, 
before receiving the sacrament. It was a brief state- 
ment of their faith in Christ. From this baptismal 
confession various and more complete statements of 
doctrine have grown up, both in the Oriental and 
Occidental Churches. Thus gradually, after a time, 
was developed in the Occident the confession which 
we now call the Apostles' Creed. The most funda- 
mental truths respecting Christ were supplemented 
by germane Biblical doctrines. The claim once made, 
that this statement of Christian doctrines originated 
with the Apostles themselves, each Apostle contribut- 
ing one sentence, rests entirely upon legend. Several 
centuries intervened between the work and writings 
of the Apostles and the appearance of this creed in 
its final form. Very justly, however, we may term it 
the Apostles' creed; since it is thoroughly Apostolic 
in its contents. It renders with vigorous simplicity 
and brevity the preaching of the Apostles. In none 

12 



of its statements, not even in those which were last 
accepted — that is, those telling about Christ's descent 
into hell, and describing the Church as a communion 
of Saints — does it deviate from the canon accepted in 
New Testament times. Since therefore the preaching 
of the Apostles will for all times remain the indisput- 
able message of God's love and of His plan of salva- 
tion, — which message may be interpreted but can 
never be surpassed, and in which the revelation of 
God in Christ is always reflected, — so shall this creed, 
for all times and men that believe in the Apostles' 
words, remain the natural expression of their faith, 
and as such it can never be surpassed. Let no one 
however understand us as affirming that this confes- 
sion excludes other systems of truth, worded differ- 
ently. Neither does the Lord's Prayer exclude free 
prayer. Other doctrinal systems have sprung up, 
especially in the Orient, and these have in certain 
respects even more accurately developed the Christian 
dogma. Indeed, every Christian, according to his 
attainment in faith and the degree of its maturity, 
will form his own heart's expression, which in some 
sense may be richer and warmer than the Apostles' 
Creed. 

Nevertheless this venerable old symbol, with its 
fundamental truths, will always be the frame-work 
in which our individual beliefs will develop. In- 
deed, it fully meets the deepest needs of our hearts, 
and the more we experience of grace and truth the 
more will it become our hearts' real belief. Its simple 
letter, in the light of Scripture teaching and of ex- 
perience, is capable of becoming spirit and life for 
evermore. "I BELIEVE," — these are the first words 
of the Apostles' Creed ; and in our farther reflections 

13 



let this be our aim, to make this confession something 
more to ourselves than merely a venerable letter. May 
it rather become to us a written statement from which 
we shall learn what the Lord has done for us, what he 
is doing now, and what he will do ; so that this creed 
shall become in our experience a real matter of the 
heart, a life-pulsating faith in Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost. And in all this may we as individuals learn 
to understand, obtain, and possess that divine rich- 
ness of knowledge which, as is evident from the nature 
and history of this creed, is the rightful possession 
of all Christendom. 

2. — The Bond of Fellowship 
Among Christians 

This creed of the Apostles, then, is the unsur- 
passed expression of Christian belief. And for this 
reason it is also the bond of fellowship among Chris- 
tians; yes, even of Churches that differ widely as to 
other doctrines. This confession is most truly a bond ; 
and in it we may rejoice, even in the midst of aliena- 
tions and separate communions. Naturally the dif- 
ferent Churches have set forth their peculiar doc- 
trines in special formularies or in doctrinal books. 
Our Evangelical Lutheran Church considers her Book 
of Concord a veritable string of pearls, consisting as 
it does of Luther's two Catechisms, the larger and the 
smaller, both being in form splendidly practical ; the 
Augsburg Confession, that marvel and illustration of 
doctrines such as can be drawn from the Scriptures ; 
the Apology, with its perspicuous clearness; the 
Smalkald Articles, with all their peculiar force ; and 
the Formula of Concord, with its weighty ampliflca- 

14 



tions. Our Church will never lower its estimate of 
these creedal writings. It will never cease to protest 
against the errors of the Medieval Church; nor will 
it abandon its precious testimonies to the truth of 
God's Word. It will always stand for justification 
by faith and the universal priesthood of believers. 
But since these confessional writings are all based 
upon the Apostles' Creed, and assent to that state- 
ment of doctrine; since Luther has enrolled this 
creed in his Catechism, with an explanation of it such 
as cannot be found elsewhere in all sacred literature, 
we, the Lutheran Church of the twentieth century, 
will not lose our share in the general Christian con- 
sciousness for the sake of the consciousness of any one 
Church. Let us rejoice that in this old Apostolic 
creed we have a joint interest with all believers in 
Christ, even with the Church of Rome and the Ortho- ' 
dox Greek Church. Even these communions, although 
in many things bound in error, could not separate 
themselves from belief in the Triune God. For in 
this very confession, both as to the things concerning 
which it speaks plainly and those concerning which 
it is silent, lies the path to the overcoming of the er- 
rors referred to, and to the unity of faith resulting 
therefrom. In this confession we are told of the good- 
ness of God, but nothing about the influence of the 
Saints. Also we are told about Jesus Christ, but 
nothing about the mediation of Mary. And then, in 
the end we are told about only one Christian Church, 
but nothing about the papacy. 

Still even on the basis of this Creed we will ex- 
tend a hand of fellowship to the Eoman Catholic 
Church, so far as its spiritual life is concerned; and 
our desire is that this Church would accept that 

15 



ecumenical confession in all its significance. Also, it 
is timely to remind the Protestant Church, in all its 
branches, of the importance of retaining this confes- 
sion, so that it may serve as an inseparable bond of 
communion. We pride ourselves on our Protestant 
freedom, on diversity of spirit. But freedom has its 
limits; diversity needs an inner unity, so as to pre- 
vent confusion. These limits and this unity, with its 
Biblical truth, are found in the Creed we are con- 
sidering. Reject this confession, — that is, refuse to 
believe in the Triune God, — and you will reap a har- 
vest; but refrain from calling yourself an evangelical 
Christian. Let such a person construct a creed to 
suit his own notions, but an evangelical creed it must 
not be termed. All persons however who believe in 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, may rejoice in the bond 
of this creed as a common possession. Let us emulate 
one another then in trying to unearth the peculiar 
treasure hidden in this confession; and let us com- 
municate to one another the results of our labors. 

3. — The Victorious Banner in Our 
Conflict With Error 

Moreover let us gather around this victorious 
banner in our conflict with falsehood, sin, unbelief, 
and superstition. In our conflict with atheism, the 
rejection of Christ, and the many destructive agencies 
now existing, we must have a clear, visible banner, a 
trumpet that gives no uncertain sound. Such a re- 
quirement is met by this Creed. Against atheism this 
Confession professes firmly, "I believe in God Al- 
mighty ;" thus at once dispelling all doubt respecting 
the Divine Being, and animating us with joy and 

16 



courage. Against the rejection of Christ, and the 
making of Him merely a man, it holds forth the testi- 
mony that Jesus Christ is "the Only Begotten Son of 
God, and our Lord." Against a mere glorification 
and deification of the world, so prevalent in these 
times, it unfurls a banner emblazoned with the words, 
"I believe in the Holy Ghost and the communion of 
Saints." Against self -righteousness it proclaims "the 
forgiveness of sins," as the Christian's holiest posses- 
sion. Against materialism, that harbinger of final 
annihilation, it preaches "the resurrection of the body 
and the life everlasting." These are the inscriptions 
upon our banner, at the sight of which all enemies flee. 
These are the bugle-calls, at the sound of which the 
walls of Jericho fall down. These truths bear a loud 
witness to our consciences, and overcome falsehood. 
The Church can never afford to renounce them, nor 
can her members as individuals do without them. 

I remember, when a boy, what a sensation was 
caused by the finding of some tombs below the stone 
floor of our old city-church, which was about to be 
remodelled, after having been unused for centuries. 
It was a structure of the thirteenth century, and had 
seen the terrors of the Thirty Years' War, also of the 
Seven Years' War, and the reign of terror of the first 
Napoleon. On one of the bodies exhumed an old ring 
was found, bearing the inscription, "Bather die than 
change," (Lieber sterben als wechseln). The allusion 
was not plain, whether it was some matrimonial troth 
or a confession of religious faith that was intended. 
Whatever it might have been, the words are most ap- 
propriate as a slogan for the Apostles' Creed, which 
both the Church and its individual members might 
well adopt, "Rather die than change" Thank God, 

17 



the Church has no reason for changing its confession. 
On this rock Christ has built His Church, and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Should we 
then desire to exchange our old Creed for some mod- 
ern fancy? Certainly not! "Hold that fast tvhich 
thou hast } that no man take thy crown" 

Amen ! 



18 



II 

GOD, THE FATHER ALMIGHTY 



TEXT 



Psalm 121 

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence 
cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which 
made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to 
be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Be- 
hold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor 
sleep. The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade 
upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by 
day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve 
thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord 
shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this 
time forth, and even for evermore. 



21 



II 

GOD, THE FATHEE ALMIGHTY 

"I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of 
heaven and earth." Thus reads the first article of our 
Creed ; and to it we shall devote two sermons. There 
have been times when this section was given prefer- 
ence, not merely in rotation but rather in signifi- 
cance. Some commentators even attempted to limit 
the entire Creed to this one article ; eliminating alto- 
gether the second section, on redemption, and the 
third, on sanctification. On the other hand, there are 
students even now who would make the second section 
of this Creed, the one on Jesus Christ, the sole article 
of their confession. By such scholars the first section 
is considered to be of comparatively small importance 
— the A, B, C, if you please, of religious faith. One 
opinion is as erroneous as the other. To be sure, the 
first article needs, for its supplement, proper illustra- 
tion and full interpretation, also the second ; for it is 
only in the Son that we see the Father, and are thus 
enabled to believe in Him. Still as a factor in bring- 
ing about such a supplementing and illustrating of 
the first article, the second is exceedingly important, 
and also of great spiritual profit. The first article 
forms the basis of all cosmography; it gives one a 
correct idea of the universe. Besides, it instructs us 

23 



respecting our needs and deficiencies, as Luther so 
beautifully expresses this idea in his explanation. Un- 
fortunate is the man who fails to appreciate the teach- 
ing of the second article, and ignores Jesus Christ. 
Pitiable also is the condition of one who cannot tes- 
tify with all his heart : "I believe in God, the Father." 
If such faith is lost because of life's hardships or from 
any difficulties of reason, all is lost. Superstition, a 
new heathenism, unbelief, and skepticism, all will find 
a solution of the great inner crises and turning points 
of life; while the first one enters into our daily life 
with all its strivings and cares, and there proves 
itself true. 

I. — The Omnipotence of God 

"I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker 
of heaven and earth." To get away from one's faith 
in the eternal, omnipotent God, is the most difficult 
thing in one's life. No wonder that it is so. God is 
the source of all power and life. To the unbiased eye 
He is revealed by the visible universe. The one hun- 
dred and twenty-first Psalm and the first chapter of 
Romans testify of Him. For one to avoid the feeling 
of omnipotence existing all around him, is absolutely 
impossible. The heathen with their many gods, are 
always conscious of the existence of a Supreme Be- 
ing, or the Highest Spirit. The modern man, in his 
pride, denies the existence of God ; yet he bows down 
before the mere forces of nature, and makes room for 
a mere impersonal, controlling Power. Most surely, 
this submitting to some unknown, impersonal God, 
that, like a cloud hangs over our entire life, both phys- 
ical and spiritual, over all our aspirations and pur- 
suits, is the most unworthy, the most unsatisfactory 

24 



and uncomfortable position for one to be in. Still it 
is true that, even in those countries where an Al- 
mighty personal God is believed in, and where the 
idea of omnipotence stands out prominently and be- 
comes arbitrariness, belief in such a Deity, instead of 
having an elevating influence connected with it, be- 
comes an oppression to the mind. Such is the case 
with Mohammedanism. In their way, the Moham- 
medans are a pious people. Their idea of Allah gov- 
erns them, and you look in vain for atheists among 
these people. A full recognition of the divine omnip- 
otence, submission without resentment, and patience 
in all the trials of life, prevail among them. What we 
miss, however, is that childlike intercourse with God, 
that quiet cheerfulness, which is so characteristic of 
the Christian believer. Also they seem to lack a sense 
of personal accountability and obligation. They have 
no real life-courage, no individual force ; since, apart 
from the idea of divine omnipotence, there is no room 
in their creed for human freedom. In the heart of 
Almighty Allah no love can be found. 

II. — The Fatherhood of God. 

How different our conception is of that Supreme 
Being with regard to whom we confess, "I believe in 
God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and 
earth." To us God is not merely the Almighty, ruling 
arbitrarily over our lives ; who, perhaps like an Attila 
or a Denghish Khan, might abuse his power, using it 
only for destruction and annihilation. He is our 
Father. How much wisdom, superiority of mind and 
heart, and especially how much love there is con- 
tained in that word Father! No one could express 
this idea more beautifully and majestically than the 

25 



Lord Jesus, in what He says about the sparrow, 
(Matt. 6:26-30), or in that other expression of His, 
"Take no thought for your life," (Matt. 6:25, 26). 
Here the Saviour — and this is very important — indi- 
cates some of the traces of divine love to be found in 
our own lives. And do we not find such evidence of 
omnipotence, of divine paternal love, of God's care 
for his creatures, in nature all around us? These 
divine qualities are manifest in the arrangement of 
law and order for the benefit of all God's creatures, 
and especially of man; also in the preservation and 
endowments of the different orders of creation, and 
in the wonderful uniformity of law of the entire uni- 
verse, from the circulation of the blood to the courses 
of the planets. Heaven and earth, and all their hosts, 
are always ready to serve this omnipotent and loving 
Divinity. In this connection the one hundred and 
fourth Psalm might be read. It says : "These wait 
all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat 
in due season. That thou givest them they gather; 
thou openest thine hand, they are satisfied with good." 
There was a time when much thought and study 
were given to what was considered the perfection and 
the wise arrangement of things connected with our 
earth. With much fondness for the expression, this 
planet was called "the best of worlds." About that 
time the great earthquake at Lisbon occurred, hurling 
fifty thousand people into eternity. Then, like a hur- 
ricane, the question of God's goodness and wisdom 
swept through millions of superficial minds. It was 
the perplexing question of how such an occurrence, 
and the evil of the world in general, could be recon- 
ciled with the idea of God's paternal love. Similar 
calamities have since shaken our earth, such as the 

26 



disappearance of the Island of Ischia, the eruption of 
Mount Pelee on the Island of Martinique; also of 
Mount Aetna, near Messina; the earthquake at San 
Francisco, and many other like events. In our own 
day we have the fearful scourge of the great world- 
war. And what shall be said of the daily and hourly 
troubles that occur in the lives of individuals? There 
are thousands of woes affecting both the lower orders 
of creation and also humankind; and then there is 
death, the very climax of all evil. What a contrast 
is this age of ours, with its many hardships of life, 
to the days of over-sensitiveness and sentimentality 
mentioned above! The hideous and the sad things 
of life are now-a-days canvassed even upon the streets, 
and with bitter scorn and blasphemous scoffing, men 
point to "such a (rod of love" — as they say — to "such 
a Father of His creatures;" crying out, "show us, if 
you can, any trace of divine love connected with these 
calamities. Such evils without end, do they not 
rather indicate the existence of some Higher Powers 
endowed with attributes the very opposite to that of 
love?" 

What answer shall we make? Only this: A 
mere study of nature and of the course of its events 
can never give one full joyous confidence in God the 
Father. Such study can as easily be the cause of 
doubt as of faith; besides leaving a riddle behind. 
That riddle can be fully solved, if without prejudice 
we will only listen to God's Word. God did indeed 
make all things good. He made man upright ; but it 
was human sin, man's revolt against a Holy God, 
that caused this great change in the order of things. 
Sin affected the perfection of God's works, and ruined 
the happiness of man. Yes, it was sin, most dreadful 

27 



sin. God's judgment was provoked by it, and as a 
consequence the earth is now wrapped in dark clouds 
of affliction, and death spreads its wings over all crea- 
tion. Still, notwithstanding the heinousness of sin, 
God's longsuffering and lovingkindness can be seen in 
a thousand different way-marks. A beaming light 
casts its rays into the darkness ; it is the royal testi- 
mony of God's unceasing love. Or, in other words, it 
is the revelation of God in His only begotten Son, the 
redemption of sinful man by the atonement. This 
which no study of nature, no researches made in 
Tiuman history could give you, will be effected by 
your looking, in the exercise of faith, toward Bethle- 
hem and Golgotha. Should there be times in your 
experience when thoughts of God's omnipotence and 
holiness seem to oppress you, when doubts respecting 
His love haunt you, when even His very existence is 
clothed with darkness, go to Bethlehem, go to Gol- 
gotha. There you will find what no science can ob- 
scure. Jesus is the revelation of God in human flesh, 
— "he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." 

The subject of God's grace as manifested in Jesus 
Christ we will not enter upon to-day. Let that be 
reserved for our study of the second section of the 
Creed we are considering. This however we must yet 
show, in this connection, — how the first article natur- 
ally leads to the second, and how the second interprets 
and glorifies the first. Moreover, such study will 
show how Christians who in the Son have learned to 
see the Father, are thus enabled to confess: "I be- 
lieve in God, the Father Almighty." 

Mohammedans, or the confessors of Islam, be- 
lieve, as we have already seen, in God ; but they stop 
at His omnipotence. Israel believed, and still be- 

28 



lieves, in a Holy God, and the fruitage of their so 
doing is a timid faith. To be sure, they believe, to a 
certain extent, in Jehovah as their Father, — that is, 
the Father of His chosen people. The chief manifes- 
tation however of God's paternal love, — His sending 
of the Messiah, — for this they are still looking and 
hoping. Consequently their belief in God's love does 
not have that joyous and immovable firmness which 
is so peculiar to the Christian's faith. We who are 
Christians, teach the fact of the Father's love mani- 
fested in the Son. Before this light, shining as it 
does over our world, the shadows flee away. Jesus 
is an inexhaustible source of life, light, and love, flow- 
ing into humanity. What an unspeakable blessing is 
this revelation of God's love! Here is the proof of 
that love : "If God spared not His own Son, but de- 
livered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him 
also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32). We 
have in Jesus Christ an overwhelming supply of evi- 
dence against all the doubts which may arise from 
different experiences and observations, and endanger 
our confidence in the Father's love. He who seeks and 
sees the way-marks of this divine love only in the 
works of God, kisses but the garment of the great 
King. But he who in Christ finds that love, looks 
into the very depths of the Father's heart, and, with 
Zinzendorf , is forced to exclaim : 

"Hallelujah! Heights of glory! 
Depths, unsounded, full of grace, 
Telling us the wondrous story: 
Jesus loved our sinful race." 

A person who, being fully assured of this love of 
the Father, can thus exclaim, has a keen vision for 

29 



all its evidences. Even in the dark and dire experi- 
ences of life he recognizes such way-marks. He rises 
to the conviction that "all things work together for 
good to them that love God." Day by day his appre- 
ciation of the first article of our Creed grows higher 
and stronger. With such a man this Creed is not 
merely a Sunday affair, a means of edification in the 
hours of special graces, a source from which over- 
whelming impressions of God's goodness may be de- 
rived; neither is it something to brood over. But it 
is with him a blessed foundation of faith, a real source 
of hope and joy to his soul. 

III. — Personal Trust in God 

Would that such might be in reality, and ever- 
more remain, the case with each one of us. To believe 
in God, the Father Almighty, must not be understood 
as signifying merely a general acceptance of the doc- 
trine of God's omnipotence and fatherly goodness, as 
of a world governing Power; it signifies rather that 
one believes he is always dependent upon God's om- 
nipotence, and surrounded by His paternal love. 
With such an understanding of the idea, one can 
truthfully say, "I believe in God, the Father Al- 
mighty." Moreover, this personal belief must not be 
a part, nor even the principal part, of one's world- 
view, acquired intellectually or by some process of 
reasoning, a view superior only to mere pagan and 
materialistic misbelief and unbelief. But it must be 
rather the blissful reflex, the echo of real heart-experi- 
ence, which has found the Father in the Son; and 
having which experience, one now professes before all 
the world : God is love, God is my Father. 

30 



"I believe in God, the Father Almighty." The 
faith of which we speak is not merely theoretical, or 
a conviction to which one's mind assents, and which 
with joyfnl lips he confesses even against modern un- 
belief. But it must be most decidedly a practical 
faith, a constant submitting of one's self humbly to 
God's omnipotence and a childlike trust in God's love. 
Also, it must be a source of humility and courage, of 
joyousness in life and readiness for death; but a 
source as well of childlike obedience due the Father 
and willingly rendered to Him, because of His bene- 
fits toward us. "A man without religion is lost." So 
said one standing high in the world. But whether we 
occupy the heights or the depths of human life, with- 
out God we are all lost ; lost in disobedience, lost in 
our needs, lost in death. To be sure, even if we know 
God as our Father, we may yet not be able to discover 
what His purposes are with regard to ourselves. His 
love often enough takes a different course from that 
expected by us, with our childish ideas and wishes; 
for His ways are as much higher than ours as heaven 
is above the earth. But this one thing we know. The 
Father will not suffer His children to be lost. His 
love is such that it wills that all men should be saved, 
and His omnipotence is able to save even to the utter- 
most. Let this, therefore, be the confession both of 
our hearts and lives : "I believe in God, the Father 
Almighty." 

"Thy ways are little known 
To my weak, erring sight; 
Yet shall my soul, believing, own 
That all thy ways are right. " 

Amen! 

31 



Ill 

MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH 



TEXTS 



Acts 17: 29-31 

Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye 
men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too super- 
stitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I 
found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN 
GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I 
unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, 
seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in 
temples made with hands. Neither is worshipped with men's 
hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all 
life and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood 
all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, 
and hath determined the times before appointed, and the 
bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if 
haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be 
not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, 
and have our being: as certain also of your own poets have 
said, For we are also his offspring. For as much then as we 
are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the God- 
head is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and 
man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; 
but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because 
he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world 
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; where- 
of he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath 
raised him from the dead. 

2 Peter 3:8,10-14 

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one 
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years 
as one day. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in 

35 



the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a 
great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the 
earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what man- 
ner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and god- 
liness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of 
God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and 
the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, 
according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new 
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, 
seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be 
found of him in peace, without spot and blameless. 



36 



Ill 

MAKEK OF HEAVEN AND EARTH 

The subject of our discourse to-day brings before 
us some memorable words found in the teachings of 
two of Jesus' leading Apostles. They belong to Paul's 
great sermon on the Areopagus at Athens, and to 
Peter's impressive admonition to the strangers scat- 
tered abroad throughout Asia Minor. Both Scrip- 
tures have an intimate relation to our discussion of 
the first article of the Apostles' Creed. In our last 
sermon we discussed the first part of this section, "I 
believe in God, the Father Almighty." The remain- 
ing part, "Maker of Heaven and Earth," now comes 
before us for consideration. 

"God who made the world and all things therein, 
He is Lord of heaven and earth," — thus Paul intro- 
duces to the men of Athens "The Unknown God" 
whom they had been worshiping. This subject which 
to them, in such light and certainty, was entirely new, 
we have been familiar with from the days of our 
childhood. 

I. — Creation of the Material Universe 

We all know about the story of Creation as it is 
recorded in the first chapter of Genesis. We remem- 
ber about the six days' work of the Creator, how our 
earth that at the beginning was without form and 

37 



void, was fashioned as we now have it ; the different 
changes and new creations appearing one after an- 
other, — first, the light ; then the atmosphere ; next the 
dividing of the water from the land, the bringing 
forth of grass and herbs ; and then the appearing of 
the two great lights in the firmament of heaven; the 
creating of fish and fowls ; and finally the appearance 
of man. Some of us do not know more about creation 
than is given in this Scriptural narrative ; moreover, 
this old story even by itself suffices us. We rejoice in 
this inspired record, in which God's omnipotence and 
goodness stand out so prominently ; since it is said of 
God's work, that after every day's achievement God 
saw that it was "good." What a splendid record, so 
entirely different from what might be said of our daily 
achievements, regarding which we are compelled to 
acknowledge, often with tears in our eyes, that they 
are not good. 

There are persons, however, who are unable to 
abide in this simple faith touching the Biblical ac- 
count of creation. They are deeply interested in the 
discoveries of science and the study of nature, to learn 
thus, if possible, about the origin of our earth and of 
the entire universe. To us who believe in the Word 
of God the so-called results of scientific research and 
of natural science, are only hypotheses. Considering 
however the interior structure of our globe, the dif- 
ferent strata of rocks, the remains still existing of a 
previous animal and vegetable world, we do not deny 
that developments have taken place, and that evolu- 
tion and revolution have occurred in the bowels of our 
planet. Even now we notice that great changes oc- 
cur, caused often by earthquakes and volcanic erup- 
tions. Whole complexes of things connected with the 

38 



earth, are changed, disappear, or take on different 
forms. Nevertheless if some unbelievers, filled with 
the thought of these violent commotions, dare to 
assert in language like this : "There you see, God did 
not create our world, neither does He preserve and 
govern it; it is only the forces of nature that do all 
these things/' — such talk is mere idle prattle. The 
very operations of nature's forces and the final results 
they accomplish, prove the existence of a divine will 
and purpose ; and it is only to effect His purpose that 
God uses the forces of nature. "He walketh upon the 
wings of the wind;" "His ministers are flaming fire." 
And if some scholars undertake to refer you to the 
long periods of time that must have elapsed in bring- 
ing about the present conditions of our earth through 
so many stages of development, and then scornfully 
turn to the account of a creation perfected in six days, 
saying, "How could that be?" — by such language they 
only show how small is their conception of the word 
"day." "A thousand years in thy sight is but as yes- 
terday when it is past ;" sc says Peter, quoting from 
Moses in the ninetieth Psalm. As to the length of 
these creative days, some of which evidently began 
before the sun, which is our time-determiner as to 
days, set out on his course, we really know nothing 
at all. Some scientists interpret all these days of 
creation as long periods of time ; and then they try to 
arrange carefully, within this frame and its success- 
ive long periods, all that science has discovered re- 
specting the developments of our earth up to its pres- 
ent stage. Still these matters are only details, things 
which we may, without any disturbance of mind, leave 
to the scientists. In such discussions no question of 
faith, no truths of any determining effect upon one's 

39 



conscience and upon his general world-view, are in- 
volved. What however in this Biblical record is, and 
must remain, the most important considerations for 
us, are truths entirely independent of individual re- 
search and scientific discoveries. No science can 
shake these Biblical truths; and vice versa, these 
truths supplement all that the study of nature can 
achieve. It is a great truth that the world does not 
exist of itself ; also that it is not eternal, but is rather 
the work of a wise, almighty and beneficent Deity. 
And most certainly this is a fundamental truth ; con- 
tradicting, as it does, all that erroneous deification of 
nature which in these times is so prevalent, and being, 
moreover, directly opposed to the delusion against 
which Peter testifies in the Scripture we have referred 
to, namely, that this world would endure forever. Be- 
ing only a created world, our earth with its surround- 
ings is surely doomed to destruction at some day, so 
as to make room for the new and more glorious works 
of God, yet to appear. 

II. — The Creation of Man 

Moreover, this Biblical record of the six days' 
creation teaches that God did not by one act make use 
of His omnipotence in establishing the universe, or 
more particularly, our earth. Bather are we instruct- 
ed that the world was made by degrees; the higher 
developments, that is, the more complicated forms of 
life, succeeding the simpler ones. In this method of 
procedure one can detect the work of a Great Artist, 
a pattern to be observed by all activity. 

But now comes the third and most sublime part 
of this history of the creation. "So God created man 
in His own image, in the image of God created He 

40 



him," (Gen. 1 :27) . In this statement can be seen the 
great and uplifting truth of man's singular dignity 
above all other created beings, his likeness to God. 
In his discourses on the Areopagus, Paul confirms 
this idea by quoting from Aratus, a Cecilian poet: 
"For we are also His offspring." In the same verse 
he had already quoted that poet as teaching this fact 
in its deepest significance : "For in Him we live and 
move and have our being." A consciousness of this 
divine likeness must have inspired the Psalmist in 
the highest degree, when, combining humility with 
self -consciousness, he wrote : "What is man that thou 
art mindful of him? For thou hast made him a little 
lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with 
glory and honor," (Ps. 8:4, 5). 

Over against a wretched materialism, which, 
through the mere semblance of science, lowers man to 
the level of an animal; or, worse yet, over against 
practical materialism, which degrades man actually 
to an animal with its lust of the flesh and its savage- 
ness, thus rendering it utterly impossible to explain 
the momentous phenomena of human life, what a dig- 
nity, what a duty, what a responsibility rests upon 
us, in our consciousness of being like unto God! 
When one considers the physical and intellectual dif- 
ferences existing among men from blooming youth to 
tottering old age, from minds highly endowed to the 
dullness of a savage, what internal connection, what 
common dignity, is found in the fact of this divine 
likeness ! But how shall we understand this inspired 
Scripture? What does it mean by saying that "God 
made man in His own image?" A physical interpreta- 
tion of these words, is of course excluded; for "God 
is a Spirit." Still, because of the close connection 

41 



existing between body and soul, an inherent nobility 
must surely be the property of man's physical system ; 
thus rendering it a fit vessel, a true mirror, a real or- 
gan of the soul. This is simply a logical consequence. 
Unquestionably a reflection of the divine image em- 
anates from the human body. That is apparent in 
various peculiarities belonging to man, such as his 
upright form, which indicates royal dignity ; his skill- 
ful hand, which enables him to force matter into the 
service of his mind ; and his wonderful gift of melodi- 
ous speech, embodying as that does his inner life. In 
conformity with its essence, though, the divine image 
in man does not consist of anything merely physical 
in its nature, but of that which is spiritual, something 
superior to the mere visible world. The spirit of man 
it is that, in its knowing capability, strives after di- 
vine omniscience ; and that, like a bird, wings its way 
through both the visible and the invisible universe, 
making all its own. The spirit it is that, sensitive 
to all kinds of impressions coming from the world, 
like an aeolian harp in the wind, gives forth various 
sounds, at times harmonious, at others shrill, or dis- 
cordant; that always takes an internal attitude to- 
wards the affairs of the world, yes, builds up its own 
world either of joy or grief. The spirit it is that, in 
the exercise of will-power, takes the field for conquest 
and tries to subdue the world, or at least to impress 
its stamp upon some particular place. Still all these 
powers of knowing, feeling, and willing, are after all 
not the best properties conferred upon man at the 
time of his being created in the image of God. The 
best of all his gifts consisted in this, that man with 
his various powers of mind, or soul, was not only 
rooted in God, but was granted the privilege of full 

42 



communion with his Maker. Such a relation impart- 
ed power and purity to man's spiritual life, or to his 
soul. Man's knowing capability sought God and 
found Him; his sense of feeling was permeated with 
happiness, because of his being adopted as a child of 
God; and his will-power submitted, for man's own 
good, in obedience to the will of his Creator. 

III. — Man's Fall From His First Estate 

But this crown of man's sacred fellowship with 
God fell from his brow, in that sad moment of his 
first disobedience. Because of sin he lost the best 
part of that divine image in which he was created. 
To the old question of the Catechism, "Do you still 
bear the image of God?" we have sorrowfully to re- 
ply, "Nay, we lost our first estate by the fall." To 
be sure, we have not in the full sense of the word lost 
our likeness to God, for we still retain the soul with 
its peculiar powers of knowing, feeling and willing. 
But the sweet fragrance, the celestial luster of this 
divine image is gone. Our communion with God has 
been broken, and as a consequence the purity of our 
soul-powers is lost, and their capability for achieve- 
ment has been lessened. A dark cloud has spread 
over the human understanding. Evidence of that can 
be seen in the pagan world. The very best thing our 
human race has, its knowledge of God, is there per- 
verted to heathenism. 

In the realm of our feelings care and anxiety, 
discord and hatred, have usurped the throne, while 
joy and love have departed. The human will is no 
longer guided by the divine will ; it follows perverse 
aims, and wherever the "will to do good" is present 
with man the "how to perform" cannot be found. 

43 



(Rom. 7:18). To compare the soul in its first estate 
with what it has become by the fall, it now appears 
like a ruined temple. What was once a great struc- 
ture towering up towards heaven, with majestic por- 
tals and high-reaching columns, now lies prostrate 
and scattered in debris. Or to tiake another illustra- 
tion, the soul may be likened to a tract of land which 
before the fall was a blooming garden, a delight to 
the eye, but now has become a barren waste. Or it 
may be compared to a fire, once blazing up with 
strength, but which now, having completely died 
down, is only a heap of ashes. 

But yet, thanks be to God, we need not despair. 
The foundation wall of that old temple is still intact, 
and a skillful architect might gather up the frag- 
ments of that debris, put them together, and thus 
erect a new and beautiful building. So also in that 
neglected garden there is a hidden spring bubbling 
up, and an expert gardener might conduct the water 
of that spring over all this tract of land, thus irrigat- 
ing and re-fertilizing it. And as to the heap of ashes, 
there is still a spark of fire slumbering in it, which a 
breath of air might kindle into a strong flame. 

That foundation, that spring and that spark, — 
these comparisons represent what is left in man of 
his original communion with God ; that is, his inclina- 
tion, or feeling, toward God, or what may be termed 
CONSCIENCE. Conscience is that infinitely preci- 
ous heritage, still left in man, which has saved the 
human race, through all the devastation of sin and 
heathenism, even from creation and the fall until now. 
That inner voice, although unable from its own re- 
sources to renew and sanctify itself, has prevented 
man from becoming completely indifferent and dead 

44 



to all divine and spiritual impressions. Conscience 
forms the indispensable link between the human soul 
and divine grace. It is the open gate through which 
a new creative power from above can enter the human 
spirit. A most wonderful thing is this conscience of 
ours ! It is a part, yes, the very best part, of our per- 
sonality, and yet it acts in direct contradiction to our 
fallen impulses and appetites. It is so absolute and 
imperious, so sharp in its demands, and yet so weak 
in achieving results. The great philosopher, Kant, 
once declared that there are only two miracles; one 
being the starry heavens above us, and the other a 
good conscience within us. 

Let this therefore be the practical lesson to be 
learned from our discourse to-day. Whatever mira- 
cles there may be outside of us in the natural world, 
let us not forget the great miracle within us. You 
should esteem and cultivate conscience ; it is as tender 
and sensitive as it is precious. In all your progress 
made in knowledge, be sure to follow the direction of 
conscience. It points you beyond all earthly powers 
to God, as Paul declares in his speech at Athens, 
(Acts 17:25-27), saying that "men should seek the 
Lord, if haply they might feel after Him and find 
Him." Amid all your varied feelings, pay strict at- 
tention to conscience ; and whenever an agonizing af- 
fection, or an inner sense of reproach, comes over you, 
perhaps in spite of great outward success and the 
approbation of men, you should understand that this 
is an evil conscience, or the protest of conscience. 
Purge your consciences, then, purge them, if such is 
their condition. And on the other hand, when happi- 
ness fills your souls, in times of cross-bearing and even 
of self-denial, blessed are you, for you have a good 

45 



conscience. Persist then, persist in so doing. Give 
heed to the voice of conscience when weighty decisions 
have to be made; follow conscience when it advises 
you contrary to your inclinations or to public opin- 
ion ; follow it when it points you to the commands of 
God, or when it stations you on the battle-field, there 
to meet your deadly foe, that is, the flesh. Follow 
conscience then, I say ; and the more willingly you do 
so the more plainly will it speak to you. Only thus, 
moreover, will you comprehend, will you be able to 
reach, the goal of eternal happiness. Besides, by fol- 
lowing conscience you will appreciate the fact that 
it is indeed a stern, legalistic judge, but also a faith- 
ful friend; not however your Creator to renew you, 
nor your Saviour to redeem you. Follow conscience 
when it calls you to repentance and to sorrow for sin ; 
also when it moves you to ask for Him who is the 
Conqueror of sin, that is, Jesus Christ. 

And it might yet be remarked here, that con- 
science will throw, for us, a bridge from the first 
article of our Creed, which confesses faith in God, the 
Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, over 
to the second article, or Jesus Christ, the only begot- 
ten Son of God, our Lord; to whom it was that the 
Apostle Paul so urgently called the people of Athens, 
and to whom also he now in like manner calls you. 

Amen! 



46 



IV 

JESUS CHRIST, AND HIS 
REDEMPTIVE WORK 



TEXTS 



Mattheiv 11:25-30 

At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O 
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these 
things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto 
babes. Even so, Father: for so it seems good in thy sight. 
All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man 
knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man 
the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will 
reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and 
learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall 
find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden 
is light. 

Acts 4: 8-12 

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, 
Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be 
examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what 
means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all 
the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of 
Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, 
even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This 
is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is 
become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in 
any other: for there is none other name under heaven given 
among men, whereby we must be saved. 

Revelation 7:9,10 

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no 
man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, 
and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, 
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried 
with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth 
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 

49 



IV 

JESUS CHRIST, AND HIS 
REDEMPTIVE WORK 

This second article of the Creed we are studying 
tells about Jesus Christ and His work of redemption. 
We will now give attention to the first part of this 
section: "I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, 
our Lord ; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born 
of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was 
crucified, dead and buried." In discussing this sec- 
tion we are in position to be relatively briefer, and 
to proceed more rapidly, than with our previous ser- 
mons; since the truths of this second article, on re- 
demption, are more frequently dwelt upon in sermons 
than are those contained in the first and third articles. 
In fact, these truths of the second article necessarily 
form the main substance of all evangelical preaching. 

In our comments on the first article, we men- 
tioned the fact that, in the past, some scholars have 
been inclined to give this section a secondary place in 
the .way of importance. The same may be said re- 
specting the second article. The chief emphasis was 
put upon the knowledge and worship of God, the 
Father ; upon creation and preservation, and the mir- 
acles connected with those divine works. But as 
great and glorious as those things might be, we were 
compelled to confess in our last discourse that man, 

51 



the noblest of all God's works, the very image of his 
Maker, has been turned aside from the purpose of his 
creation, and has lost his blessed estate. Moreover, 
we know that death, which is the wages of sin, has cast 
its somber shadows over the human race and over all 
creation. In the one hundred and fourth Psalm a 
touching strain of sacred music can be heard. The 
poet, after traveling, so to speak, all through creation, 
and after minutely describing the things he has seen, 
exclaims, with praise on his lips : "Let the sinner be 
consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no 
more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye 
the Lord." It was as much as to say that an ugly 
stain spoiled the looks of creation. It was human sin ; 
and it was only after the removal of that sin that the 
heart of the poet could rejoice in God and in the works 
of His hands. But all human capability and art, all 
the efforts of mind and conscience, cannot avail to 
wipe out that dark spot, or to transform vile sinners 
into children of God, pure and blessed. That can only 
be done, and has been done, by such an overpowering 
manifestation of God's love as appears in redemption. 
Such love was manifested in Jesus Christ. "I be- 
lieve" — so runs this Creed of the Apostles — "in Jesus 
Christ, the only begotten Son of God, our Lord." 

I. — Meaning of the Words, Jesus 
and Christ 

These two words — Jesus, Christ — are not mere 
accidental names, such as ours usually are, but they 
rather denote character or essence. The word Jesus 
signifies Saviour, Bedeemer, and what is implied in 
this name in the way of deliverance. That is, it means 

52 



that Jesus saves from sin and death, or that sin and 
death have been conquered by Him. The word Christ, 
however, has more of a positive or supplementary 
meaning connected with it. It tells all about the sal- 
vation which Christ accomplished. The word signi- 
fies "Anointed," and it reminds one of the anointed 
characters of olden times — the prophets, the high 
priests, and the kings. It represents and exalts Jesus 
as a Prophet, anointed with the Holy Ghost, who de- 
clares the whole truth of God ; also as a High Priest, 
who offers an availing sacrifice; and as a King, who 
sways an eternal and world-ruling scepter. 

To believe in Jesus Christ, then, is to confess the 
full salvation revealed in Christ. And with its per- 
sonal reference, — "I believe," — this old Creed of the 
Apostles as much as declares : "I, even I, a poor sin- 
ful man, have found in Jesus my Eedeemer. Praise 
God forever! Jesus shall then redeem me from all 
my burden of sin, from guilt, and from death. I, a 
poor, heavy laden mortal, do acknowledge in Christ 
a Prophet whose message I am ready to hear, a High 
Priest by whom I desire to be reconciled to God, and 
a King under whose reign I wish to live in safety and 
peace evermore." A person who does not recognize, 
in the man of Nazareth and Golgotha, the Eedeemer 
of the world, the Anointed One of God, may yet in 
many ways show admiration for Him, he may even 
strive to follow Him; but to believe in Him he will 
not be able, any more than a man can, because of his 
relation to excellent people, believe in them. 

II. — Christ's Divinity and Humanity 

But if I, or you, really believe in Jesus as the 
Redeemer, the Anointed One of God, in whom there 

53 



is salvation, such a belief involves a confession of 
Christ's superior, divine nature. For a man who is 
only a man, is himself in need of redemption ; he can 
never redeem his brother. This can be accomplished 
only by Him who, in our Creed, is called also "The 
Only Begotten Son of God." 

"The Only Begotten Son of God," — this peculiar 
title distinguishes Christ from those who are sons of 
God only by adoption. Such a relation is to be ob- 
tained even by one who is a sinner. All men are 
naturally God's children, created by Him in His 
own image, loved and sought after by Him even when 
gone astray in sin. Moreover, those who by repent- 
ance and faith return from the error of their ways to 
the bosom of God, — these become God's children in a 
full and proper sense. They gain the heritage of 
adoption, that is, forgiveness of sin, the Holy Spirit, 
and eternal life. But in Christ there is One who never 
went wrong, who had no need of returning to God, 
who during all his life remained sinless, and whose 
filial communion with the Father was always un- 
broken. Yes, such was Christ, and He alone of all 
men; and this exalts Him above the estate even of 
Adam, or the first man; indeed, even above that of 
the angels, making him a man who not only in humble 
obedience subordinated himself to the Father, but at 
the same time partook of the divine majesty, as is ex- 
pressed by these Scriptures: "All power has been 
given unto me in heaven and on earth ;" "Before Abra- 
ham was I am." On that account Christ is denom- 
inated "the only begotten Son of God," or as it is said 
in Hebrews 1:3, "Who being the brightness of His 
glory and the express image of His person, and up- 
holding all things by the Word of His power." There- 

54 



fore, as it is stated in this Creed of the Apostles, even 
though Christ did become our brother, He is at the 
same time our "Lord;" one who is by nature far above 
us, and will remain above us, with all His condescen- 
sion and mercy, and under whose guidance we must, 
as His humble servants, place ourselves with implicit 
trust and entire surrender. 

"Our LOKD," — thus we address Jesus of Naz- 
areth; and what other great historical personage 
would we feel like calling by such a title? There are 
people to whom a Goethe, a Carlyle, or an Emerson 
is their Lord; and to the opinions, edicts and errors 
of these men they subscribe with more or less of re- 
serve and exception. But it is certainly an unworthy 
servitude to make a poet or a philosopher, some im- 
perfect human being, significant only for his eminence 
as a writer or thinker, the ruler of one's intellectual 
and spiritual life. Blessed is the man w T ho calls Jesus 
his Lord, who gladly enters His service, and is led by 
Him, the infallible and perfect One, to a more abund- 
ant life. 

The peculiar manner in which the Only Begotten 
Son of God became also our brother, is set forth in 
the following words : "Who was conceived by the 
Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary." Human rea- 
son is inclined to take offense at this part of the sec- 
ond article and perhaps will always do so. But does 
not the entire personality of Christ, with its peculiar 
divine-human dignity, surpass mere human reason? 
It is not a mystery to be explained only on the ground 
of God's omnipotence and love, something that our 
sin-laden souls seek after with holy desire, and grate- 
fully accept without fully understanding? Besides, 
if we really believe in Jesus Christ as the only begot- 

55 



ten Son of God and our Lord, and as a manifestation 
of God's wisdom and love seen in the incarnation, 
even this part of the article we are considering should 
not appear very strange to us. "Conceived by the 
Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin Mary." Such a 
statement would rather appear to be the only one 
worthy of our Lord. He was to become really our 
brother, absolutely a man, entering our race in the 
natural way, yet with no shadow of a taint of our 
sinful flesh upon Him. Therefore the passage reads, 
"Conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin 
Mary." Most heartily and believingly do we here 
endorse Luther's salutation, addressed to the babe of 
Bethlehem : — 

"All hail! Christ Jesus, blessed King, 
To thee our voices praises sing, ■ 
To humble birth from virgin fair, 
As joyful angels witness bear. 
Hallelujah! 

The Father's only Son behold 
In lowliness, as long foretold; 
Eternal riches lie disguised 
In humble flesh, through sin despised. 
Hallelujah. " 

III.— Christ's Sufferings and Death, 
or His Great Atonement 

The Creed continues: "Suffered under Pontius 
Pilate." Here the question might be raised, whether 
it would not be in place for us to fill in a great hiatus 
that seems to have been made in the account, given 
by the Creed, of Jesus' redemptive work. Has not 
the entire earthly ministry of our Lord been omitted 
in this account, — that is, His works of healing, His 
miracles, His comforting ministrations, and His 

56 



gentle but forceful preaching? In fact, a defect of 
this kind has again and again been charged against 
this old Apostolic Confession. Here can be seen, so 
our opponents affirm, the one-sided representation 
given by this Creed of Jesus' character; which is 
nothing less than a mark of primitive Christianity. 
Besides what it tells about the marvelous birth of the 
babe in the manger and the crucified Prophet, this 
Creed leaves out, so it is said, the entire active life 
of Jesus, all His deeds of love and beneficence; and 
these are the very things, so they tell us, that for the 
modern man must be pronounced the cardinal traits, 
the most attractive features of Jesus' character, after 
that character is stripped of the elements of phantasy 
and miracle surrounding it. What an inappreciative 
criticism this is, surely! The Apostles' Creed, with 
its matchless emphasis put upon the sufferings and 
death of Christ, shows a profound appreciation of 
Christ's redemptive work. The most important factor 
in our Christian religion is here asserted ; putting to 
shame, as it does, all modern wisdom. No real Chris- 
tian will deny the glory and the preciousness of the 
entire life of Jesus. In all its peculiar features that 
life was a manifestation of God. In its deeds and 
teachings can be found an inexhaustible supply of 
wisdom and love. And this very richness of the life 
of Jesus, in all its peculiarities, is indicated by the 
two names, — "Jesus, Christ," — which stand at the 
very opening of this second article of the Creed. 

Still, with His miracles and teachings alone, our 
Lord would never have redeemed the human race. 
With all His criticism of the sinful conditions exist- 
ing in the world, and the graphic description which 
he gives of the kingdom of God and its righteousness, 

57 



with all His wonderful interventions in special cases 
which here and there mitigated the seriousness of sin 
and death, with all these acts of wisdom and love, 
Jesus would never have established a new order of 
things and a new life for man in his immediate rela- 
tion to God. That was accomplished by His suffer- 
ings and death, by the perfect atonement which He 
made for the sins of the world, and thus opened the 
way for the free exercise of God's forgiveness and 
renewing love. It is solely for this reason that the 
Apostles' Creed, since it does not undertake to depict 
the life of Jesus in detail, sets in bold relief, so to 
speak, the very climax of that life, by mentioning, 
between the incarnation and the resurrection, Christ's 
sufferings and death as the most important part of 
His life, — which part, moreover, was the special pur- 
pose of His humiliation. Christ's complete humanity 
was necessary, so that He might die, and very natur- 
ally His divine glory also looms up in this connection. 
With us ordinary mortals, sorrow and death form the 
decline of life. In the case however of Jesus' won- 
derful life, death was the very climax up to which 
all other experiences led; and for us His death has 
become a source of life. On this account it was that 
the only begotten Son was made flesh ; so that as the 
Good Shepherd He might not only lead His sheep into 
green pastures, but also give His life for the sheep. 
The very gist of His ministering love, is the fact that 
the Lamb of God died for us. "For the Son of Man 
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and 
to give His life a ransom for many." 

Far be it from us to underestimate the prophetic 
announcement of truth and the royal grace and full- 
ness of spirit that were characteristic of Jesus' life. 

58 



We shall always endeavor to make those peculiarities 
in the life of Jesus profitable examples for our own 
life. Still, Christ on the cross shall, more than any- 
thing else connected with Him, engage our attention. 
Jesus on the cross is our own suffering and death. 
From the cross we hear the words, "It is finished !" 
And by Jesus' resurrection it was confirmed and 
vouchsafed that sufferings and death should always 
be invested with the greatest significance and power. 
As in nothing else, the guilty conscience finds peace 
and rest in the great atonement which Jesus effected 
on the cross. Jesus' death on the cross was the great- 
est test of His character as an example, the most in- 
fluential sermon He ever preached, the most exalted 
manifestation of His royal majesty ever made during 
His earthly life. Christ on the cross is the most effect- 
ive testimony against sin, and it is also the most 
effective call to repentance and Godliness in life. 
There, as nowhere else in His life, Christ becomes to 
us a motive power for the crucifixion of the flesh, to- 
gether with all our sins and evil desires, and for tak- 
ing up the cross and following Him. All this is put 
before us in the second article of our Creed, by the 
simple statement: "Suffered under Pontius Pilate, 
was crucified, dead and buried." 

Deny if you will, or even modify the atonement 
effected by Christ on Golgotha, — that is, the recon- 
ciliation of the Father by the Son, — and you at once 
pierce to the very heart the Christian religion. God 
forbid! We will take our stand along with Luther, 
who so fully appreciated this particular article in the 
Apostles' Creed, and who also has given expression 
to its internal connection, its blessed truth, and 
earnest obligation, in that extraordinary explanation 

59 



which he gives of this same article: "I believe that 
Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from 
eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, 
is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and con- 
demned creature, purchased and won me from all 
sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not 
with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood, 
and with His innocent sufferings and death ; in order 
that I might be His own, live under Him in His 
kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, 
innocence and blessedness, even as He is risen from 
the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity." 

All this is most certainly true; and may we ap- 
propriate the truth of this extraordinary explanation 
in our lives. 

Amen! 



60 



V 

THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 
OF CHRIST, WITH ACCOMPANY- 
ING EVENTS 



TEXTS 



1 Peter 3:18-22 

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for 
the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death 
in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he 
went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which some- 
time were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God 
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, 
wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The 
like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not 
the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of 
a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand 
of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject 
unto him. 

1 Corinthians 15: 20-26 

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the 
firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, 
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in 
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But 
every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward 
they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, 
when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the 
father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority 
and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies 
under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is 
death. 



63 



V 

THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION 
OF CHRIST, WITH ACCOMPANY- 
ING EVENTS 

"I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our 
Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of 
the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was 
crucified, dead and buried." This first part of the 
second article of our Creed, was made the subject of 
our study two weeks ago. To-day we will continue 
the same study of Christ and His redemptive work, 
as that subject is described in the second part of this 
article: "He descended into hell, the third day He 
rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven, 
and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Al- 
mighty, from thence He shall come to judge the quick 
and the dead." 

I. — Christ's Descent Into Hell 

Familiar and widely known as those different 
truths are with us, they have been, and still are, to 
many people incomprehensible, yes, even an offense. 
That applies particularly to the first statement made 
in this part of article two, viz., "He descended into 
hell." In both older and later times therefore voices 
have been raised in favor of eliminating this dogma 

65 



from the section mentioned. Critics have taken the 
view that the oldest version of the Apostles' Creed 
did not contain this statement, but that it was in- 
serted in later centuries. This contention explains 
the absence of that statement from a number of the 
service-books used by some of the Reformed Churches. 
Still the later embodiment in the Creed of this part 
of article two, by no means proves its inadmissibility 
or its uselessness. Rather does it show that in this 
old Confession, as at first existing, there was need 
of a place for a truth which, although not funda- 
mental, was really important and precious, if rightly 
understood. This statement supplies, at an essential 
point, a connecting link in the doctrine of Christ's 
person and work. It is a truth proclaimed quite em- 
phatically by Peter, in one of our texts. To be sure, 
this truth is not often mentioned in the New Testa- 
ment. Still we hold that whatever mention is made, 
by writers of the New Testament, of Christ's descent 
into hell, was doubtless based upon revelations given 
by the risen Saviour to His disciples respecting events 
that occurred between His death and resurrection. 
We most strenuously reject, as militating against the 
authority of God's Word, the notion that Peter, in the 
mention he makes of that fact, merely gives us his 
own idle fancy. 

Christ "descended into hell." We admit that the 
expression chosen is not a happy one. It is apt to be 
misunderstood. Ordinarily, when we speak of hell, 
we think of the place set apart for the lost. But no 
reference is made to such a place here. Peter, en- 
lightened by the Holy Spirit, describes for us the state 
of the dead who lived before the time of Christ. These 
he refers to as being neither saved nor lost. By way 

66 



of illustration he mentions the generations of those 
who perished in the flood. "Spirits in prison" he calls 
them; for they had not entered into the blessed and 
heavenly liberty of the children of God, nor could 
they have so done. They were in a state of uneasy 
confinement and forced restraint, leading a kind of 
shadowy existence. Among them were some who 
longingly waited for redemption and the Kedeemer; 
prophesying, they looked forward to the future, these 
righteous ones, these seers of the Old Dispensation. 
Now, while His body was still resting in the tomb, 
Jesus comes to this place of the departed souls re- 
peating His message, or what He said on the cross : 
"It is finished!" A full atonement for your sins has 
been made on Golgotha. If you will only believe in 
me, the gates of heaven stand wide open for you also. 
I will lead you out of your prison to liberty, and from 
waiting and longing for salvation to its full enjoy- 
ment. 

This is really the meaning of Christ's so-called 
"descent into hell." The entrance of Jesus into Hades 
or Sheol, as the ancients termed the place of the de- 
parted, has been made the subject of some striking 
representations in religious art, as we might note in 
passing. But by this act of His going into Sheol, 
Jesus has proved, and solemnly testified that His re- 
demptive work was not intended solely for the benefit 
of His own generation and for others following it, but 
that it had also a retrospective effect upon the genera- 
tions that had come and gone before his time. Christ's 
coming to our world worked an advancement of the 
human race, which was to tell on preceding ages. 
Heaven and salvation were by that coming made 
accessible for all mankind, whether dwelling in times 

67 



past, present, or future; provided they would by 
faith in Him as their Saviour, accept of His atoning 
sacrifice. What a potent and majestic perspective 
that was ! A very practical and comforting truth it 
is also in our own day, when we consider the heathen 
who have not yet been reached by the Gospel, but 
who, alike in life and death, are situated as were the 
generations of the pre-Christian era. A ray of hope 
it is, perhaps, for those who because of unfavorable 
conditions and surroundings pass through this world 
without the cheering rays of the Sun of Life that 
shines from Bethlehem and Golgotha. May we not 
assume that as Jesus carried the message of His sav- 
ing power to the departed souls of days gone by, so 
he may also, in the great beyond, reveal His grace to 
those who, through no fault of theirs, passed their 
lives at a distance from Him, and thus furnish them 
with an opportunity to believe in Him and enter the 
Kingdom of Heaven? This is a thought, so it seems 
to us, most comforting and sweet. Be careful how- 
ever, lest this should become to you an encouragement 
to sloth, and cause you to postpone faith and con- 
version as a needful preparation for the other world. 
That would be a very dangerous and foolish taking of 
chances. We have grace and truth offered to us. We 
are not listed among those who have no chance. This 
is the day of salvation for all who will hear-God's 
gracious call. "To-day, if ye will hear His voice, 
harden not your hearts." Woe unto us, if we neglect 
so great a salvation. There will be no opportunity 
for us to receive what we have neglected in this pres- 
ent life, if, because of the hardness of our hearts, we 
fail to hear the Word of God. "He descended into 
hell." Let the significance and the comfort of this 

68 



passage be left to those who in this life did not learn 
to know the Saviour and His power to save, if per- 
haps in the other world He may find a way to enter 
their souls. But as for us, we will open our hearts 
to Him NOW, so that the glorious light of the next 
statement may illuminate our lives. 

II. — The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ 
(A) The Resurrection 

"The third day He rose from the dead." The 
vestiges of the Risen Lord, left behind Him in His 
word and ordinances, form a plain path to the life 
eternal. There is no need here of any lengthy dis- 
cussion of Christ's resurrection. That event is what 
may be called a seal put upon the divine character 
of Jesus' life and the eternal value of His death. Our 
blessed Easter festivals, or in fact every Sunday, is a 
living testimonial to the reality of that occurrence. 
The simple fact that primitive Christianity exalted 
the resurrection-day of Jesus, and made it "The 
Lord's Day," and some time afterward substituted it 
in place of the Old Testament Sabbath, is proof suffi- 
cient and clear that Christ did, on the third day after 
His burial, actually rise from the dead, and that this 
event became the very center of faith, as well as of 
comfort and power, with Christ's early disciples. 

In the resurrection the primitive Church saw the 
glory of the Lord confirmed and perfected; also His 
living and beneficent presence with His disciples 
established, and the new personal life in the Spirit, 
together with our resurrection on the last day, vouch- 
safed. All the more painful, then, are the various 
perverse attempts made to disprove, or at least to 

69 



weaken, the historicity of Jesus' resurrection. In 
place of His actual resurrection, the resurrection- 
faith of Christ's disciples is, in these times, being sub- 
stituted. How utterly ridiculous that is ! How could 
such a faith have originated in their souls, without 
the actual experience, had by them, of a resurrection? 
Think of the fears and distress of these intimidated 
followers of Christ. Or if we concede that Jesus con- 
tinued to live after death, and that various appari- 
tions of Him appeared among His people, while yet 
a physical resurrection is denied, and Jesus' body is 
consigned to the grave and corruption, what a shallow 
argument it is to assume, as the cause of the disciples' 
belief, merely a spiritual resurrection! We have a 
number of trustworthy reports that the grave was 
empty, that the seal was broken, and that the stone 
was rolled away. Moreover, it must be believed that 
the body of Jesus, which had been the vessel of a 
divine life, could not perish and become subject to 
corruption. There is but one explanation left. Jesus 
did on the third day rise from the dead with a glori- 
fied body, with a body becoming always more and 
more glorious. This fact it is that makes Jesus' resur- 
rection the pledge, or assurance, of our resurrection. 

Between Christ and us, however, there remains 
this difference. We shall have a new body given to us 
in place of the old one returned to dust in the grave ; 
which body moreover was infested with misery and 
sin, and was finally overcome in that way. But in 
the case of Jesus, although he came in the form of a 
servant and His body was subject to suffering, yet 
that body, unstained as it was by sin, overcame cor- 
ruption; and because of its sinlessness it survived 
death and the grave, and was carried by the Saviour 

70 



into the glories of Heaven. Accordingly we read in 
the tenth verse of the sixteenth Psalm: "Thou wilt 
not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer 
thine. Holy One to see corruption." 

Is there not in all this a suggestion that the more 
we are penetrated and governed by the Spirit of 
Christ the more shall we be enabled to overcome the 
infirmities and lusts of the flesh, or at least to put a 
check upon those matters, and thus to effect a kind of 
spiritualization and glorification even of our physical 
nature? And it might also be suggested that this 
effect of our being penetrated and governed by the 
Spirit of Christ, may be regarded as a preliminary 
and condition of our coming resurrection. In the in- 
spiring hymn which we sometimes sing, all this is to 
some extent expressed : 

"Only see ye that your heart 

Shall rise betimes from earthly lust; 
Would ye there with Him have part? 

Here obey your Lord and trust; 
Fix your heart beyond the skies, 
Whither ye yourselves would rise. ,, 



(B) The Ascension 

Still this matter of the resurrection, whether it 
be of Christ or of ourselves, must always remain a 
profound mystery. Mysterious in like manner is the 
fact declared in the following: "He ascended into 
heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the 
father Almighty. 7 ' On every Ascension Day we cele- 
brate that farewell hour in which Jesus parted from 
His disciples and from the earth, when "a cloud re- 
ceived Him out of their sight." Here I must notice 

71 



the difference in interpretation between our own 
Luther and Calvin, the father of the Reformed 
Church. To this day that difference of view forms a 
wall of separation between Lutheran Churches and 
Reformed Churches. Luther affirms that "the right 
hand of God" means everywhere; and that by His 
ascension the glorified body of Jesus now shares in 
the divine attributes of omnipresence. As a conse- 
quence of this divine property belonging to Him, 
Jesus — so Luther teaches — communicates, in the in- 
stitution of the Lord's Supper, His glorified body to 
all believers. On the other hand, Calvin maintained, 
and the Reformed Churches to this day hold, that by 
His ascension the glorified body of Jesus was exalted 
to a certain place in the glory world, and that there 
Jesus must be sought and found ; and as respects the 
Lord's Supper, that is represented as a being lifted 
up of the believing soul to the heavenly throne, where 
it is fed with the efficacy of Christ's glorified body. 
Now w T e cannot deny the profound mystery surround- 
ing this whole matter of the Lord's Table. It is in- 
scrutable and really indefinable; it passes mere 
human understanding. Others may accept a different 
idea of it, but the Lutheran Church holds to Luther's 
view. And as to this divine mystery, we may remark 
that the full light of its interpretation will dawn up- 
on us when we are lifted to a higher plane of being, 
and shall live and move among things celestial, and 
have the privilege of beholding the miracles and laws 
of the invisible world, those great wonders of our God 
and Saviour. 

Meantime there is left us, as a practical consid- 
eration for our Christian life, some absolute truths, 
derived from this passage which tells us about 

72 



Christ's ascension and glorification, — truths such as 
that our Saviour is our heavenly King, who rules over 
us ; a High Priest who intercedes with the Father for 
us; and a Prince of our salvation, who leads us on 
toward Heaven. Onward and upward! That is the 
command given to the church militant. Great and 
precious are the truths respecting Christ's exaltation, 
which this passage teaches us. We will never sur- 
render these truths, notwithstanding any difficulties 
which our souls may experience in confessing them. 
No vulgar objections or ridicule coming from super- 
ficial minds, shall ever rob us of this valuable heritage 
connected with our faith. 

III. — The Final Judgment 

No less grand, potent and indispensable is the 
truth set forth in the closing words of this second 
section of our Creed: "From thence He shall come 
to judge the quick and the dead." The Saviour often 
and with much emphasis spoke of His return to judg- 
ment ; His second coming was in fact dwelt upon more 
frequently than was any other of His associations 
with the world He came to save. To deny this teach- 
ing, therefore, is equivalent to accusing Christ of 
falsehood, or at least to charging Him with an illusive 
self-deception. It is only logical that scholars who do 
not accept the teaching of a creation as revealed in 
God's Word, should be unwilling to listen to the doc- 
trine of a judgment at the end of the world. Persons 
in whose estimation the holiness of God and sin are 
mere sound and smoke, are not in condition either to 
believe in or to fear a Day of Judgment. He who 
sees in Christ only a man, cannot recognize in Him 
the Eternal Judge. Christians, however, who con- 

73 



ceive of this world as being imperfect, must necessar- 
ily believe that it is doomed to destruction, so as to 
give place to a better world. We who are believers in 
God's holiness and justice, realize the inherent need 
of a full and final triumph of this holiness and right- 
eousness, in the final Judgment. We who behold in 
the Lord Jesus Christ a manifestation of the holy love 
of God, and who on the other hand see in His death 
a most outrageous deed of injustice and sin, look up- 
on His glorious return as King and Judge, as a neces- 
sary accompaniment to His vindication before an un- 
believing world, and as a concluding act in His re- 
demptive work ; yes, even as the final Judgment itself, 
by the exercise of which He will lead His flock to 
peace in that world which is in all respects perfect, 
the new heaven and the new earth. 

The relation of this general, public and solemn 
Judgment, a worthy closing of the world's history, to 
the judgment to which we are summoned directly 
after death, according to Heb. 9 : 27, "It is appointed 
unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment," 
presents another mystery. To explain it if possible 
we have to assume that this private or personal judg- 
ment accomplishes for us a primary decision, which 
is confirmed by the general and public Judgment; 
such decision bringing honor to some and shame to 
others. Moreover, in this final decision accomplished 
by the general Judgment, the body given us at the 
resurrection will necessarily participate. 

Many things regarding this whole matter of a 
future judgment are, we must admit, still wrapped in 
darkness. But a matter that can be easily understood 
and kept in mind by us, viz., that there will certainly 
be a judgment of some land, and that Jesus will be 

74 



our Judge; oh, how this should remove from our re- 
lation to Him, true and faithful as it should be, all 
trifling and weakness, and from our lives all frivolity, 
shallowness and thoughtlessness, and merge our en- 
tire existence into a profound and earnest effort to 
stand if possible the test before His eternal throne! 
The various matters of faith which we have been 
considering to-day, surely have no indifferent bear- 
ing ; no impracticable dogmas are presented by them. 
Like rays of light they shine into our hearts and con- 
sciences ; all of them being building-stones for the re- 
establishment of our inner life; also for that of the 
life of all mankind. "Descended into hell/' — that 
means that we should build on the mercy of God, both 
for this life and that which is to come. "On the third 
day He rose again from the dead," — that prompts us 
to rejoice in the Easter glory of our Saviour, and to 
clothe ourselves with Easter qualities. "Ascended in- 
to heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the 
Father Almighty," — this admonishes us to be heaven- 
ly minded, both in prayer and in our daily conversa- 
tion. "From thence He shall come to judge the quick 
and the dead," — this warns us to prepare for the great 
day of Judgment, and to draw near to the Saviour 
as our Judge ; this Judge being, thanks be to God, at 
the same time our Saviour. Let us draw near to Him, 
with the prayer of an humble and sincere heart. 

"Thou Judge of quick and dead, 

Before whose bar severe, 

With holy joy, or guilty dread, 

We all shall soon appear. 

"Our anxious souls prepare 
For that tremendous day; 
And fill us now with watchful care, 
And stir us up to pray. 

75 



"To pray and wait the hour, 
That awful hour unknown, 
When, robed in majesty and power, 
Thou shalt from heaven come down. 

"Oh, may we all be found 
Obedient to thy Word — 
Attentive to the trumpet's sound, 
And looking for the Lord! 

"Oh, may we all insure 

A Home among the blest; 
And watch a moment to secure 
An everlasting rest!" 



Amen ! 



76 



VI 
THE HOLY GHOST AND THE CHURCH 



TEXTS 



John U: 16-18,26 

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another 
comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit 
of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him 
not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him, for he dwelleth 
with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfort- 
less: I will come to you. But the Comforter, which is the 
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall 
teach you all things, and bring all things to your remem- 
brance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 

John 16:13,14 

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will 
guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; 
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will 
show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall 
receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. 

Romans 8: 9-17 

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that 
the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the 
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, 
the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because 
of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up 
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ 
from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his 
Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are 
debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live 
after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do 
mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as 
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For 
ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but 
ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, 
Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that 
we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs 
of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer 
with him, that we may be also glorified together. 

79 



VI 
THE HOLY GHOST AND THE CHURCH 

"I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Christian 
Church, the Communion of Saints." 

This evening we are to give attention to the third 
article of the Creed we are still considering. Descend- 
ing from the heights of omnipotence which we found 
in the first article, and from the heights of grace 
which we found in the second, we now enter the val- 
ley in which the great stream of Christian life may 
be conceived of as a flowing stream, and as developing 
both in the church and the individual. An immediate 
connection between God and man is expressed by the 
words in this third article: "I believe in the Holy 
Ghost." 

"Is the Holy Ghost true God?" Thus reads a 
question in our Lutheran Catechism. The answer is, 
"Most certainly; for the Holy Scriptures ascribe to 
Him divine names, divine attributes, divine works 
and honors. Of a truth the Holy Spirit is the Spirit 
of God and of Jesus Christ ; it is God himself in His in- 
fluence on the hearts of men, also the exalted Saviour 
in His continuous acts of grace and revelation. 
There is something truly mysterious connected even 
with the spirit of man, with its breath-like activity 
and nature. How much greater then, a thousand 
times, is the mystery connected with the Holy Spirit, 



that source of light, that breath of eternal peace, that 
stream issuing from the Mercy Seat, as He is called 
in one of our Pentecostal hymns. How mysterious 
are His secret, yet open, His quiet, yet manifest op- 
erations, his offices of discipline and doctrine, of 
chastisement and comfort! To enter upon an ex- 
haustive discussion of matters connected with the 
Holy Spirit would be like an undertaking to solve an 
insoluble problem, a useless task ; to coin such a mys- 
tery into words and thoughts would be a vain en- 
deavor. Much more important and profitable it is 
for us to give heed to the work of the Holy Spirit, to 
make a free course for Him, to open our hearts to His 
blessed influence. The different statements made in 
this third article which we are now considering, all 
tell, one after another, about that work. 

I. — The Work of the Holy Spirit 

"I believe in the Holy Christian Church." By 
these words this last section of the Creed refers to the 
great field of the Holy Spirit's work on and in man, 
or to the Christian Church as founded, gathered, 
guided and protected by that Divine Spirit. And 
since this great institution is a structure built out of 
many stones, a body consisting of many members, this 
extensive work of the Holy Spirit presupposes and 
even includes His activity in individual souls, or the 
work of renewal described in the last statements made 
by our Creed. In these statements, understood ac- 
cording to the two poles of thought contained in them, 
there is, first, the groundwork of the renewal men- 
tioned, described in the words, "I believe in the for- 
giveness of sins ;" and then comes the crowning con- 
clusion of the entire work, "I believe in the resur- 

82 



rection of the body, and the life everlasting." The 
work of the Holy Spirit in the entire human race, or 
more particularly in the Christian Church, and the 
work of the Holy Spirit in individual souls, — that is, 
in their sanctification, — these matters will form the 
subjects of our study later. This evening, guided by 
the order of the different statements made in the 
Creed, we will select for our consideration these 
words : "I believe in the Holy Christian Church, the 
Communion of Saints." 

"Dear Saviour, help! Thy Church uphold; 
For we are sluggish, thoughtless, cold; 
Endue thy Word with power and grace, 
And spread its truth in every place/' 

II. — The Church as a Communion of Saints 

"The Holy Christian Church, the Communion of 
Saints." These two statements made in one breath, 
— do they mean the same thing? Is the Christian 
Church really a communion of saints? Is it a holy 
institution? Yes, and No ! Yes, as to what the Holy 
Spirit does and desires to do in it. No, as to what 
men in their weakness fail to do. Yes, as to the idea, 
or the ideal, put before the church. No, when we con- 
sider how perverted from that lofty conception the 
church really is at present. Therefore it is said, / 
believe in it, — that is, something invisible, even 
though I do not yet see it. The difference between 
the visible and the invisible church, is thus already 
indicated. 

There was a time in the past history of the Chris- 
tian Church when it came up, not fully but approx- 
imately, to its high ideal; it was then in reality a 
holy church and a communion of saints, as it came 

83 



forth from the hand of the Holy Spirit in the bloom 
of its youth. That was the time of the primitive 
Christian congregation, in the days of the Apostles. 
The Church was then a real communion of saints. 
Not a communion of sinless people ; such an erroneous 
conception of what it is to be holy, those early Chris- 
tians would have repudiated. Still the Church was 
then a communion of people entirely Christ's own, a 
people given to Him with a peculiar fervor of faith 
and earnestness as they strove to imitate Christ. To 
be sure, the Book of Acts, as well as the Epistles of 
Paul, John and Peter, reveal faults and defects in 
those early congregations ; still Peter was encouraged 
to address them in the words : "Ye are a chosen gen- 
eration, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar 
people." 

This state of things in the primitive Church was 
brought about by the Holy Spirit, unto whom the 
hearts of that people were in a peculiar sense open. 
If one should inquire as to the ways and means em- 
ployed by this Divine Spirit, a three-fold answer can 
be given. First, in the midst of that primitive Church 
there still lived the Apostles, those men who had en- 
joyed the benefit of Jesus' special training, and who 
in a singular and incomprehensible measure were 
filled with and enlightened by the Holy Spirit. What 
a salutary influence must have gone out from them, 
besides the sound doctrine which they taught; what 
a sanctifying power for the unity of the congregation. 
We can make daily use of the power of a good ex- 
ample. One person by his kindly conduct may im- 
press his own character upon his associates. That 
can be said of the Apostles in the highest and holiest 
sense. And to this blessed influence exercised by 

84 



them, a second virtue must be added. Because of the 
Holy Spirit dwelling in them, they possessed the gift 
of discerning spirits, — that is to say, they had pos- 
itive insight into the hearts and consciences of the 
people surrounding them. Thus they were enabled 
and authorized to discern all dangerous and sordid 
elements within the congregation, and to unmask 
these elements, to reject them, and to exercise what 
is known as church discipline. That can be noticed 
in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, wiiose falsity 
Peter exposed. Paul also, as is evident from his 
Epistles, exercised such church discipline. Church 
discipline, that unhesitating and sharp pruning away 
of unsound elements in the Christian community, was 
the second ground-pillar of its holy character. 

The third ground-pillar was tribulation. In those 
times the cross stood prominent in the Church, and 
the followers of Christ bore it through trials and per- 
secutions. Outwardly that cross pressed hard upon 
the shoulders of the faithful, yet inwardly it guarded 
them from evil, just as to-day the cross exercises the 
same kind of power in blessing and safe-guarding us, 
The cross urges the Christian to prayer, with always 
new tests of faith and confession. It prompts him to 
a pains-taking care and discipline of his daily life; 
yet to a continual discipline under the Holy Spirit, 
so that Christ's followers shall not expose themselves 
to criticism before men, or before their enemies. By 
the cross the tide of superficial church members was 
stemmed; for the things which such elements in the 
Church look for, — comfort and honor, — were not to 
be found in that community. Here were only those 
who could find happiness and satisfaction in being 
spiritual and who desired to be spiritual, men who 

85 



could be satisfied even under the discipline endured, 
and with, that comfort which the Holy Ghost supplies. 

Thus it came to pass that at the time when Chris- 
tianity w^as weighed down by the cross, when the 
stakes of martyrs were blazing, when the arenas were 
saturated with the blood of Christians, that at this 
very time the Church of Christ stood out the purest. 
Then, too, it was full of spiritual fruit and blossoms ; 
being planted upon these three pillars : Apostolic 
influence, church discipline, and tribulation. These 
pillars, however, soon began to totter ; and with that 
change the holy character of the Church was greatly 
injured. The Apostles died; and although they had 
provided for spiritual leaders, that is, for shepherds, 
and bishops, their successors were not their equals, 
the spiritual influence emanating from them being 
far inferior. 

Church discipline in this age became lax. Where 
it was exercised, and at times quite rigorously,, the 
censors having charge of it were lacking in accurate 
discernment of the various spirits they had to deal 
with, and consequently the healthful effect naturally 
resulting from discipline was absent. Whenever 
church discipline is conducted without the gift of 
discernment, or of a proper insight into human 
hearts, judgments will be faulty; frequent and fatal 
mistakes will be the logical consequence. Under such 
conditions it may happen that the publican will be 
excluded, and the Pharisee accepted. Think of the 
atrocities committed during the middle ages, under 
the mask of Christian discipline and good order, when 
the most faithful witnesses of the truth were cruelly 
persecuted, and many of them assassinated. 

And finally, a matter that after the hardships of 

86 



decades and centuries appeared like a deliverance 
from all evil, — that is, the liberty and toleration 
granted to the Church by the Emperor Constantine, 
and even more, the dominating position which he 
granted to it, — lo! this very thing deprived the 
Church of her simplicity and purity, those virtues 
which amidst her fiery trials she had so well pre- 
served. The privileges granted to the Church, and 
which were so highly prized by her, became fatal to 
her inner life. People now pushed their way to the 
Sacrament of Holy Baptism; since those who had been 
baptized stood highest in public estimation, and were 
considered most eligible for positions of honor and 
public trust. In many cases, indeed, it was no longer 
the drawing influence of God's Spirit, but some other 
influence, that brought men to Christ. Thus the 
Church ceased to be a communion of saints, while it 
was fast becoming a secular power. 

But in making this statement I do not wish to be 
understood as affirming that the communion of saints 
had altogether ceased to exist. The work of the Holy 
Spirit within the Church did not at any time relax. 
God forbid ! The Holy Spirit was always active, even 
in the darkest days of the Church. The assembly of 
those who permitted the Holy Spirit to enlighten and 
renew them formed, so to speak, the inner nucleus, the 
real active power within the great congregation, with 
its mixture of people. To be sure, the management 
of external affairs was never entrusted to this class, 
consisting as it did of humble people. The govern- 
ment of the Church rested mostly in the hands of 
earthly-minded, ambitious men, who did not build up 
the habitation of Christ, but at times wasted it. We 
all know what great abuses and heresies were born 

87 



in those days, to what serious alienations from her 
true purpose the Church descended, and how great 
a number of genuine Christians were persecuted for 
the sake of faith. Then, under the lead of Luther 
and others, the Protestant Reformation became the 
means of re-establishing, on the old and solid foun- 
dation of the Apostles' teaching, at least a part of the 
Christian world. But now we ask, has this purified 
Church, restored as it was by that mighty movement 
of God, become truly a holy Church, a real Commun- 
ion of Saints? With deep regret we must confess that 
it has not. Impure and sordid elements have gained 
admittance. A large amount of sin, a mere appear- 
ance of piety, external forms and the like, have found 
lodgment within it. At the very beginning of the 
Reformation, iconoclasts and fanatics attacked Lu- 
ther and his followers with bitter reproach. In later 
times one sect after another has repeated the charge 
of dead orthodoxy as characterizing the Lutheran 
Church, and has separated itself from us, claiming 
to be better and holier than we are, and therefore to 
be in need of a holier congregation. Some of these 
sects seem to have a strong attraction for certain 
classes of mind and disposition, and these are not the 
worst people, either ; for we must confess that at least 
many of them are truly desirous of obtaining real 
spiritual life and spiritual fellowship. It may be 
that we Lutherans have been too stiff and reserved, 
in our ways. Many people coming from the Father- 
land have brought with them this peculiar attitude, 
and have thus, although unintentionally, repelled 
people who wished to find in our Church the benefit 
of Christian association and fellowship. Still the 
Lutheran Church in America has grown and is de- 



\ eloping in an extraordinary way, in keeping with 
the progress of this great and free country and with 
the spirit of the nation ; also making the only proper 
use of the liberty enjoyed here, since we esteem it as 
a possession which Christ has bought for us. 

It is too late now for us to remedy the mistakes 
of the past ; we must make the best of the present, and 
prepare for the future. But allow me to ask, Does 
any one of the sects that have seceded from our 
Church form a real communion of saints? Far from 
it, we think. We grant that at least in some of them 
there are many earnest minds and good discipline; 
and often there can be found in them a close relation 
of Christian brotherhood or fellowship. But on the 
other hand there can be found, we are sorry to say, 
mere deceptive semblance, hidden sins, manifest fail- 
ures, unkind judgment, pharisaism, a false ambition 
and sad disunion. Besides, in some of these sects 
many people have entirely lost their faith, and have 
gone out into the world. 

But, alas ! there is no sect, no church, no religious 
constituency on all the earth, that can be denominated 
a true communion of saints. The Lord Jesus predict- 
ed this in His parable of the tares among the wheat, 
and such a state of things is only natural. Every 
communion that is established among earthly con- 
ditions, requires external forms and rules. But 
wherever external forms and rules are found, there 
people are not wanting who content themselves with 
the mere form without the spirit. God be thanked 
that, notwithstanding this, the spirit of real Christian 
work does not die, but continues its operations from 
century to century, carrying forward the Christian 
religion, and changing the hearts and lives of men 

89 



in all the different churches and congregations. 
There are real or living Christians of all creeds and 
among all peoples; and all these taken together con- 
stitute, even without knowing one another or associ- 
ating one with another, the real communion of saints, 
the one holy, invisible Christian Church; and these 
real Christians form the nucleus or the spiritual unity 
of all churches, and are the support of the present 
age, the very salt of all nations. What a precious re- 
flection it is that, despite all the infections and 
schisms existing among Christians, there still exists 
a holy Christian Church, a communion of saints, a 
people that can truthfully be called the Body of 
Christ, the Bride of the Lamb ! 

III. — Practical Considerations 

And what a great and important mission is given 
to us, as members of this invisible universal Church. 
As all our Confessions teach, we enter the Church by 
Baptism. By this Holy Sacrament men are received 
into "the covenant of grace;" for as it is stated in 
Luther's smaller Catechism, "It [that is, baptism] 
worketh forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and 
the devil, and confers everlasting life on all who be- 
lieve; as the words and promises of God declare." 
But few, however, abide in this baptismal grace. 
Blessed are they who, through the good influence of 
Christian parents and other such helps, are preserved 
therein. Most people fall from such grace through 
manifold sins. If these desire to be restored to the 
privilege of adoption, they must seek the help of the 
Holy Spirit. Let us not be satisfied with being mere- 
ly recognized and conscious members of the visible 
Church. Furthermore, let us avoid overestimating 

90 



the importance of the Church as a visible institution. 
There is such a thing as overestimating the visible 
church. This can be seen in Eoman Catholicism. 
Among Romanists the visible Church is the one great 
thing. * The Roman Catholic Church assumes to itself 
such titles as "the only authentic church/' "the only 
saving church/' and teaches that outside of Roman- 
ism "there is only sin and apostasy/' etc. Still, even 
in our Lutheran Church, there are those who have 
much to say about "Protestant liberty/ 7 and "Evan- 
gelical truth." To be sure, these are precious gifts. 
Beware, however, lest you think that Protestant lib; 
erty and Evangelical truth can make the Church a 
spiritual paradise, and that such possessions are able 
to make you a child of God, without Christ Himself 
dwelling in the heart. In order to be saved the Holy 
Spirit must make you a child of God, through the 
precious blood of Jesus Christ. Nor is it right for you 
to see only shadow and defeat outside the boundaries 
of your own church. Recognize gladly the good ex- 
isting also in other churches. The Spirit breatheth 
where he will. Extend the hand of fellowship to all 
spiritual minded people, and with them submit to the 
discipline of the Holy Spirit, who guides into all 
truth. Together with all such people grow in the 
knowledge of God, which comes by the tuition of the 
Spirit, within the one holy Christian Church, the 
communion of saints. 

If, however, you are thus admonished not to over- 
estimate mere external forms, on the other hand you 
should not underestimate the importance of the vis- 
ible Church. Of a truth, the Holy Spirit breathes 
where he will; he works in all churches; he gathers 
his people from all corners of the globe; of no one 

91 



church dare we say, there is no evidence here of the 
life of the Spirit. Neither would it be right for us 
to affirm that in this or that church it is impossible 
for one to be a genuine Christian. Still, between the 
various churches one decided difference can be found. 
In one church things spiritual are taken more lightly 
than in others ; in one church the Spirit-life pulsates 
more strongly than in others ; here the sacraments and 
doctrines of the church are given a wider berth than 
in some other churches. If by way of analogy the 
different visible churches may be considered schools, 
the office of which is to educate men for the invisible 
church, then one school is better than others. Or, to 
use another comparison : The invisible church is the 
Holy Place, and the different visible churches are the 
courts surrounding it. To reach the Holy Place, one 
must pass through these outer courts. Still, one court 
is nearer to the Holy Place than is another. And 
here let me say, without any disparagement of other 
churches, that we Lutherans can gratefully and joy- 
fully acknowledge the high character of our own 
Church ; since it must be admitted that we, as a Chris- 
tian body, point out a straight road leading to God 
and the Saviour. We claim, not to lead people in any 
by-ways, past priests and saints, nor to teach them to 
depend upon themselves for salvation. But we strict- 
ly admonish them to throw themselves on the mercies 
of God. Our effort is to preach the Gospel in all its 
purity and truth, unadulterated by human inven- 
tions; and as to the sacraments, we dispense them 
according to their original institution. And all this 
we can say without any attempt to exalt ourselves 
in particular, or to show disregard for the claims of 
other Christian churches. Let us then gratefully 

92 



recognize and make use of whatever spiritual forces 
there may be in our Church ; remembering the words 
of our Lord, "Unto whom much is given, of him much 
will be required. 7 ' 

Much has been given to us, in our Lutheran 
Church. We have the entire Bible, the inspired Word 
of God, to operate on our souls. Our confessional 
writings are a true and clear interpretation of God's 
holy will as revealed in the Word. We breathe the 
air of evangelical freedom. We eat the bread of life 
of evangelical truth. A strong spiritual life flows 
around us, penetrating our hearts and consciences. 
Still, much will be required of us, far more than from 
some poor Roman Catholic, who is fed upon a few 
legends about Mary and the saints ; far more than is 
required of those who are taught that man is justified 
by the deeds of the law. With all such people the 
Eternal Judge will exercise forbearance, according 
to what has been given them. But of us there is re- 
quired a personal Christian faith, manifested in 
knowledge, and daily living, — that is, a new spiritual 
life, derived from the conviction that we are justified 
by faith alone in Christ. Besides, we must worship 
God in spirit and in truth. May His Holy Spirit help 
us to fulfill these various obligations. 

"Come Holy Spirit, Lord God, and fill 
With thy rich grace heart, mind and will, 
And each believing soul inspire 
With thine own pure and holy fire. 

Lord, by the brightness of thy light, 
Thou in the faith dost men unite, 
Of every land and every tongue; 
This to thy praise, O Lord, be sung." 

Amen ! 

93 



VII 

THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN 



TEXTS 



Psalm 32 

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin 
is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth 
not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I 
kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the 
day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: 
my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. 
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not 
hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; 
and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. For this 
shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when 
thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they 
shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place; 
thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me 
about with songs of deliverance. Selah. I will instruct thee 
and teach thee in the way which thou shaLt go: I will guide 
thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, 
which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in 
with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Many sor- 
rows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, 
mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the Lord, and 
rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are up- 
right in heart. 

Romans 3:21-26 

But now the righteousness of God without the law is 
manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 
even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ 
unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no differ- 
ence: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of 
God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemp- 

97 



tion that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a 
propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his right- 
eousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the 
forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his right- 
eousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which 
believeth in Jesus. 

Romans 6: 1-11 

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that 
grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead 
to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many 
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his 
death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into 
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the 
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness 
of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness 
of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrec- 
tion: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, 
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we 
should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. 
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also 
live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the 
dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 
For in that he dieth, he died unto sin once: but in that he 
livet" , he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also your- 
selves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. 



98 



VII 
THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN 



"i 



'I believe in the Holy Christian Church; the 
Communion of Saints/' — these words from the third 
article of the Apostles' Creed gave us opportunity in 
our last discourse to speak of the invisible and the 
visible Church. In other words, it was the work of 
the Holy Spirit carried on before our eyes on a 
gigantic scale, within the Church on earth, and with- 
in the field of her different missions. This work has 
in view for its accomplishment, and in fact for its 
presupposition and aim, a work on the souls of men. 
For it is individual souls that form "the communion 
of saints." The work of the Church consists in lead- 
ing souls to the Holy Spirit for protection and dis- 
cipline. 

For of what use would it be for you to learn to 
appreciate the work of the Holy Ghost and of the 
Church of Christ, if the Divine Spirit were not to 
operate within you? The Apostles' Creed therefore, 
after speaking of the Church in one of its last state- 
ments, passes over to that activity of the Spirit which 
takes hold directly upon the lives of individuals. 
Without undertaking to treat of that subject in its 
different stages, the Creed sums it all up in these 
words : "I believe in the forgiveness of sins." Here 
we have the very climax of the Holy Spirit's work. 
These words indicate the greatest blessing with which 

99 



the Holy Spirit endows human life, or that peculiar 
gift by which he renders men happy. This precious 
jewel, we might also say here, after being practically 
lost by the Church during the middle ages, was found 
again by the Eeformers, and very highly prized by 
them. 

"The forgiveness of sins," a priceless gift of God, 
the highest blessing of human life ; let this be the sub- 
ject of our present consideration. We will notice, 
first, the need of forgiveness; secondly, the fact of for- 
giveness; and thirdly, the fruits of forgiveness. 

"O LOVE, thou bottomless abyss! 

My sins are swallowed up in thee; 
Covered is my unrighteousness, 

No spot of guilt remains on me; 
While Jesus' blood, through earth and skies, 
Mercy, free boundless mercy, cries." 

V 

I. — The Need of Forgiveness 

"I believe in the forgiveness of sins," these words 
presuppose in the person using them, a felt need, or 
a conviction that without the forgiveness of sin he 
cannot be happy. Do men have such a feeling of need? 
Many there are who do not have it, because they do 
not realize the fact of their own sin as being a calam- 
ity; they do not regard it as an abomination, or as 
a matter of guilt ; they rather delight in sin. Others 
consider themselves so perfect in character that they 
do not need forgiveness. Still others conceive of sin 
as an infirmity, a natural state of transition through 
which all must pass ; and so they think they have no 
occasion to desire forgiveness. Thus it happens that 
the Gospel message, which is the most glorious of all 
good tidings, has no effect upon many a heart. 

100 



Are we going to harden our hearts against that 
message? God forbid ! Even the poor heathen would 
put us to shame, should we so do. For in all their 
worship, their sacrifices and expiations, despite the 
erroneousness of the methods by which they seek re- 
lief, a deep longing for forgiveness, a strong sense of 
being guilty, can be recognized. This need, so deeply 
felt, is an illustration of sincere self-criticism. It 
condemns the flattery of others and the delusion of 
one's own mind. It is a manifestation of conscience ; 
something that can be suppressed only by violence, 
self-deception and illusion. And to what profit is all 
this violent suppression, this resisting of the Holy 
Spirit? In some decisive hour conscience will find a 
way to perform its work. The awakened conscience 
itself will become the effect of that punitive office 
which the Holy Ghost exercises on all men. One can 
withdraw from such work of the conscience only by 
a complete hardening of the heart. Many a person 
who has thus seared his conscience has, in the hour 
of death, cried for mercy. Oh, how terrible it is for 
any one to depart from this life without that con- 
solation which comes from the confession : "I believe 
in the forgiveness of sin." 

And even if, to the hour of death, you should not 
feel the need of forgiveness, and should deem it un- 
necessary for you to have the mercy of God, does that 
signify that you do not need forgiveness? How often 
are the sick mistaken as to what they really need. 
Frequently they choose, as a remedy, something that 
is least conducive to a restoration of health, and re- 
pudiate other and genuine remedies. It is a sign of 
an unhealthy spiritual life when men feign not to be 
in need of forgiveness, or when they refuse to heed the 

101 



punitive work of the Holy Ghost, manifested in con- 
science and through the Word of God. That Word 
is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even 
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and is a 
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 
Let us pause for a while, in view of the Holy Spirit's 
punitive office, and let us in painstaking self-examina- 
tion open our hearts to that Spirit. And this, I may 
say, refers especially to you who to-day desire the 
comfort and grace connected with an observance of 
the Lord's Supper. Let us bring to this holy sacra- 
ment a sincere confession of our sins. If you wish to 
become beneficiaries of the Holy Spirit's office of com- 
forting, then you should first submit to his office of 
chastisement. 

This matter concerns us all. Among us there are 
those who carry about with them a deep sense of their 
sins, and a longing for forgiveness, or the blessed ex- 
perience of having their sins remitted. Still there 
are others before whom their sins have not loomed up 
as being so great and so much in need of atonement. 
But if you will look into the mirror held up before 
you by conscience, and into the mirror of the Ten 
Commandments, and into that of the pure and unde- 
filed character of Jesus, you will find, — that is, if you 
look carefully, quietly, and impartially, — that one 
after another in your thoughts, words and deeds, sins 
of commission and many more of omission, will rise 
in your memories. Thus it becomes at once apparent 
to us that our relation not only to men, but also to 
the Holy Spirit, is not what it should be, and such as 
God demands. Then, too, a deep longing for new and 
holy powers so that in the future we may overcome 
sin, will necessarily arise in our minds. And last, 

102 



but not least, a requirement is that an earnest spirit 
of anxiety shall take possession of our souls, to be de- 
livered from the sins which up to the present time 
have contaminated and burdened us, or that all our 
sins shall be cast into the depths of God's mercy. 

Some modern writers have made the claim, and 
many thoughtless people have accepted the doctrine, 
that man is not in need of divine grace. Faults and 
defects of character, they say, must be got rid of by 
a progressive development. Forgiveness, they claim, 
is the logical consequence of improvement in charac- 
ter. But if that is so, no account should be taken of 
the fact that all real strength for a new life can come 
only from God's forgiveness; also that all spiritual 
betterment here on earth must always remain frag- 
mentary. But suppose you should tomorrow make a 
complete change of life, that you should fully and 
faithfully discharge all your duties, do you imagine 
for one moment that you could make amends for all 
your past short-comings and sins? Most assuredly 
you could not. After all your efforts there would re- 
main, for instance, the wasted hours and capabilities, 
the injuries inflicted upon yourself and upon your 
fellow men. The evil seed sown, even if now you sow 
only good seed, has become rampant, and you can no 
longer uproot it. There is nothing left for you but 
to pray, with David in the thirty-second Psalm, or 
with the publican in the parable, "God be merciful to 
me a sinner." Copernicus, the great astronomer, 
wrote as an epitaph for his own tomb : "Not the 
crown of Paul, nor the honor of Peter, do I desire, 
but a place in Paradise by the side of the malefactor 
on the cross." Such a spirit it behooves us all to have. 
The desire for forgiveness is a fundamental necessity 

103 



of the soul, just as hunger for one's daily bread is a 
necessity of the body. Do you understand now why 
the petition in the Lord's prayer, "forgive us our tres- 
passes/' follows directly after the petition, "Give us 
this day our daily bread?" The Psalmist likens the 
condition of a man without forgiveness to that of one 
starving for food: "My bones are famished on ac- 
count of my weeping all the day long. For day and 
night thy hand was heavy upon me, my moisture was 
turned into the drought of summer." 

Most truly we all need forgiveness of sins, and 
that from God. Forgiveness from man is a comfort, 
it lightens the heart; still it does not remove guilt. 
God only, against whom in the deepest sense sin is 
a revolt and an indignity, can fundamentally forgive 
sin and break its power. Woe unto us, if we fail to 
realize the need of forgiveness ! Woe unto us, if we 
fail to seek that extraordinary benefit; for only by 
seeking it shall we be able to find it. Blessed are we, 
if by seeking we find this peculiar benefit, so that we 
can say, in the words of the Creed : "I believe in the 
forgiveness of sins." 

II. — The Fact of Forgiveness 

"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, 
whose sin is covered," — such is the teaching of the 
thirty-second Psalm. And yet the forgiveness here 
spoken of, the mercy in the Old Dispensation, was not 
a full and complete pardon. Sin was "covered," so 
we read in the Scriptures quoted; sin was not im- 
puted, but there was no entire removal of it. In His 
forbearance, Paul tells us, God passed over the sins 
that had previously (before the time of Christ) been 
committed. Divine forbearance withheld the out- 

104 



stretched arm of God's justice. Merited righteous- 
ness, such as is dispensed in the Gospel of Christ, was 
for a time deferred, until the righteousness of God 
was "once for all" satisfied in Christ's atonement, and 
thus a free course was opened for sin-remitting grace ; 
so that only now, in the New Dispensation, is it pos- 
sible for one to rejoice with perfect confidence while 
he repeats : "I believe in the forgiveness of sin." For- 
giveness is not merely a much desired possession, an 
ideal of pious souls, a glimmering star in the night 
of poor, sinful humanity, something that at last 
proves to be only a will-o'-the-wisp. God forbid ! For- 
giveness is a genuine fact, firm as a rock. I accept it 
as confidently as I believe in Jesus' coming in the 
flesh, or as I believe in His meritorious death on the 
cross, and in the truth of His last saying, "It is fin- 
ished" 

"I believe in the forgiveness of sin." As an ex- 
pression of my faith these words are equivalent to 
saying not only that I believe in Jesus and in His 
death on the cross, but also that I believe in His resur- 
rection and ascension, as our Saviour and Redeemer. 
"Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, 
yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the 
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for 
us." 

"I build on this foundation, 

That Jesus and His blood 
Alone are my salvation, 

The true, eternal good. 

Without Him all that pleases 

Is valueless on earth; 
The gifts I owe to Jesus, 

Alone my love is worth." 



105 



"I believe in the forgiveness of sin." This belief 
has made the Christian religion the great friend and 
comfort of the human race, distinguishing it from all 
other religions. That is a settled fact. And the 
quintessence of the Christian religion is this belief, 
and not, as some scholars to-day assert, the trans- 
forming power of this religion, not its new ethics or 
something of that kind. Great, it is true, are these 
matters. But their greatness is all derived from the 
fact of their connection with belief in the atonement 
and the forgiveness of sin. Forgiving love toward our 
fellow men, which is the postulate as well as the effect 
of true Christian belief, would all be ineffectual with- 
out the incomparable example of God's forgiving 
grace as manifest in Christ, and without the experi- 
ence of that grace in a believing heart ; which experi- 
ence again incites one to the practice of love and for- 
giveness. Without that historic basis, and without 
this inner connecting link between God's forgiving 
grace and man's forgiving love, the ethics of Chris- 
tianity dwindle to something essentially no higher, 
purer, stronger and more productive than were the 
imperfect moral teachings of the Old Testament or 
the humanitarian principles found in the philosoph- 
ical systems of ancient paganism. No, indeed; the 
very height of grace is disclosed in Christ, His aton- 
ing work is the great miracle of love. 

With this message of reconciliation, and of the 
forgiveness of sin brought about by such reconcilia- 
tion, the Holy Spirit has all through the Christian 
ages been exercising his office of comfort. With it, 
as the most blessed of all offices, he has disseminated 
innumerable benefits to thousands and millions of 
souls that were thirsting for righteousness and salva- 

106 



tion. He has filled all such hearts as were open to re- 
pentance and faith. He did that for Luther's soul, 
when famishing for peace, by those words which a 
fellow monk whispered in his ear : "I believe in the 
forgiveness of sins." In and through the Reforma- 
tion the Holy Spirit exercised this office upon the 
Church, intimidated as it had been by medieval legal- 
ism. To-day he exercises the same office in the preach- 
ing of the cross, and in the Sacrament of the Altar, the 
first and fundamental meaning of which is a remem- 
brance of the atonement, and the solace of the remis- 
sion of sins. 

This office of consolation, my dear Christian 
friend, the Holy Spirit is anxious to exercise upon 
you, if you will only accept what he brings, or if by 
repentance and faith you prepare yourself to listen to 
his word of grace. 

Some people desire to experience this comfort of 
the Holy Ghost in special inner beatitudes, in an in- 
exhaustible supply of peace. If, as in by-gone days, 
storms arise within their souls, they are disappointed. 
In the end many doubt the reality of a forgiveness of 
sin, because they cannot feel it. Be of good cheer, my 
Christian friend; even if for a while you miss the 
sense of peace and blessedness, your comfort lies in 
this, that Christ's blood was "shed for many for the 
remission of sins," or in the fact of God's grace man- 
ifested in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has already 
begun his work of comforting in you by bringing you 
the words just quoted, or by testifying to the grace of 
God as taught by those words. Wait quietly and pa- 
tiently; and over against the contradictions of your 
own feeble heart let it be your firm confession, as is 
said in the Creed: "I believe in the forgiveness of 

107 



sin." Then the fact of such forgiveness will become 
more and more a blessed experience ; the Holy Spirit 
will always in fuller and richer measure, exercise his 
office within you. 

III. — The Fruits of Forgiveness 

Wherever the Holy Spirit comforts, he also 
fully and perfectly instructs, and disciplines. For- 
giveness of sin is also, and at the same time, the root 
of Christian knowledge and of Christian sanctifica- 
tion. "He that seeth me, seeth him that sent me." 
In Christ, the crucified and risen One, in His work 
of redemption, the Holy Ghost shows us the very 
center of the divine counsel and of the plan of salva- 
tion, the center of all human history and of its devel- 
opment, the very depths of the divine glory, the deep 
things of God. 

"I believe in the forgiveness of sin." This means 
that I believe in God, who is love, and whose love 
cannot rest satisfied until it has attained its object 
in the welfare of man. 

If true Christian knowledge grows to be a spirit- 
ual fruit of forgiveness of sin, realized and experi- 
enced, the same is true of Christian sanctification. 

Forgiveness of sin, as nothing else in us, brings 
about grateful love to our God and Saviour; which 
love strives to please him, and to do the things that 
please Him. It developed that extraordinary love in 
the sinful woman, concerning whom Jesus said, "Her 
sins, which are many, are forgiven, because she loved 
much ; but to whom little is forgiven the same loveth 
little." Forgiveness, like nothing else, produces dis- 
gust for sin, — for that terrible thing which cuts us 

108 



off from God, and which cost the Son of God the 
precious and bleeding sacrifice which He made for us. 

"Here will I rest, and hold it fast, 
The Lord I love is First and Last, 

The End as the Beginning! 
Here can I calmly die, for Thou 
Wilt raise me where Thou dwellest now; 

Above all tears, all sinning. 
Amen! Amen! Come, Lord Jesus, 
Soon release us; 
With deep yearning, Lord, 
We look for thy returning." 

Forgiveness of sin, or the communion established 
with God through forgiveness, creates that joyous 
spirit which, without fear or force, does that which is 
good, as a practical proof of such communion. 

Forgiveness of sin produces a constant exercise 
of humility; causing us to realize the truth of the 
Scripture teaching that "we are saved by faith," and 
impelling us not in haughtiness of mind to depend 
and build upon self-righteousness. Rather does it 
teach us to depend upon the promise, or the hope that 
"He who hath begun a good work in us, will perfect 
it unto the day of Jesus Christ." Upon a new foun- 
dation of the remission of sins, the Holy Ghost estab- 
lished within us, a new creation or a new man in body 
and soul, and on the day of the resurrection this new 
creature will, in a new and glorified body, shine in 
perfection. 

Thus in the statement, "I believe in the forgive- 
ness of sins," there is uniformly implied, as existing 
in a germ, the entire restoration of man. It is not a 
defect or a weak point in our Creed, but an exceed- 
ingly great and centralized thought, that with regard 
to the restoration of man this Confession says only 

109 



one thing, which is, "I believe in the forgiveness of 
sins" "For," as Luther says, "where there is remis- 
sion of sin there is new life and salvation." 

This passage in our Creed may be regarded as a 
bridge leading over to the last two, or the closing 
ones, with which next Sunday we will bring our 
studies to an end: "I believe in the resurrection of 
the body, and the life everlasting." Let us this even- 
ing close our meditation with the earnest desire that, 
by the power of the Holy Ghost, the passage we have 
been studying may become in us a fruitful truth in 
which we shall live, and at last die in peace : "I be- 
lieve in the forgiveness of sins." 



no 



VIII 
THE LIFE EVERLASTING 



TEXTS 



John 11:25,26 

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: 
he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never 
die. Believest thou this? 

1 Corinthians 15: 35-43 

But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and 
with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou 
sowest is not quickened, except it die: And that which thou 
sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, 
it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giv- 
eth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own 
body. All flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one kind of 
flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and 
another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies 
terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory 
of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, 
and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: 
for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is 
the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is 
raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonor: it is raised in 
glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 

Revelation 21: 10-12; 21-27 

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high 
mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, 
descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: 
and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a 
jasper stone, clear as crystal; and had a wall great and high, 

113 



and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and 
names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve 
tribes of the children of Israel: And the twelve gates were 
twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the 
street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and 
the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of 
the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of 
God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And 
the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light 
of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and 
honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by 
day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring 
the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall 
in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither what- 
soever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which 
are written in the Lamb's book of life. 



114 



VIII 
THE LIFE EVERLASTING 

"I believe in the resurrection of the body, and 
the life everlasting." This is the last statement made 
in the Creed which we have been considering. With 
a brief discussion of it we will bring this series of 
sermons to an end. This statement forms the very 
crown of all that is taught in this important Confes- 
sion; the goal toward which all previous teachings 
lead, and where they all end. Without it our Chris- 
tian faith, or indeed the entire Revelation of God, in 
which we believe, would remain fragmentary. 

Also the whole creation of God would remain 
fragmentary, or indeed would suffer shipwreck in its 
most important work, if man, made in the image of 
God, were to perish in death, and thus be reduced by 
death and corruption to the grade of a mere animal 
order. So, too, the work of redemption would remain 
fragmentary, and become a task half finished; and 
even the resurrection of Jesus Christ would prove 
only a strange, meteoric event, if Christ's power of 
redemption and of giving life was unable completely 
to vanquish death as an experience for us. And last- 
ly, in the redeeming work of the Holy Spirit, cause 
and effect would have no relation one to another, and 
only an imperfect beginning of the work would be ac- 
complished, if the spiritual new birth and the blessed 

115 



result of man's spiritual development were to be the 
whole of this work, or if, by the resurrection of the 
body, those achievements were not, so to speak, to be 
supplemented and carried forward to completion. 

We can understand how unbelievers, addicted 
especially to the earthly-mindedness of materialism, 
who deny the existence of God and the truth in Christ, 
can deny also this section of our Creed, and partic- 
ularly that part of it which speaks of the resurrection 
of the body. A Christian, however, who believes in 
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, accepts these teach- 
ings as a matter of course, or as something truly glor- 
ious and comforting. Even with those who have not 
penetrated to such beliefs, or who may be concerned 
with doubt, this section answers to the inmost stir- 
rings of the heart, moved as it is by a longing for life 
and a fear of death. If any of you belong to this class, 
you will never be free from a fear of death; and your 
longing for life can be satisfied only in the presence 
of the living God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 
Wherever God is, there is that life eternal which con- 
quers death and removes its horror; wherever He is, 
there is the resurrection of the body and the life ever- 
lasting. 

I. — The Eternal Life 

Of these two teachings then, in our Creed, we will 
consider the first one, on this the last Sunday in our 
Church-year, which from olden times has been de- 
voted to a service in memory of the dead, and to a 
contemplation of eternal life. "Life Everlasting," — 
this is the closing statement of our Creed, and it is 
one that is heard throughout the entire Confession. 
For where the living God is, there is life, everlasting 

116 



life. God's only begotten Son is the Prince of Life, 
God's Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Life. Two weeks 
ago we recognized and considered, as a fundamental 
operation of the Holy Ghost in our hearts, that for- 
giveness of sin which the Son of God acquired for us 
by His redeeming work, and which the Holy Spirit 
attests and brings to our consciousness as a personal 
possession. Then also we heard Luther say that 
"where there is forgiveness of sins there is also life 
and salvation." As soon as the fear of God's judg- 
ment is removed, and the presence of unrepented and 
unforgiven sin exists no longer, an entirely new joy 
in life, a kind of life-giving power, real happiness, 
takes possession of the soul. And this kind of life is 
life everlasting, since it is, by faith and prayer, con- 
nected with the living and eternal God, and is con- 
tinually assured to us by the fullnes of divine life in 
the Spirit, in the Word, and in the Sacraments. Not 
only in the life of our bodies, but also in that of our 
souls there are many evidences that bear the stamp 
of transitoriness ; so miserable and paltry is this 
natural life of ours. But whatever of the influences 
of sanctification and of the knowledge of the truth, 
coming from God himself, penetrates this natural life, 
that really lives, is unconditionally able to endure, 
and is intended to give us life, even the fuller life. 
To this it is that Jesus alluded in what He said to 
the Samaritan woman : "The water that I shall give 
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into 
everlasting life." And again, in John 17 : 3, He says : 
"This is life eternal, that they might know thee, and 
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." 

So, then, to the Christian who has received for- 
giveness of sins, and has become a child of God, eternal 

117 



life is not only an object of hope, but is a real posses- 
sion, an enduring asset, something that carries within 
itself the sure hope of a life persisting after death, or 
of an eternal continuance and perfecting of whatever 
of the divine life we can even now call our own. Just 
as surely as we know that this earthly life of ours is 
finite, and that like everything else in this world it 
will crumble and corrupt, so we also know that what- 
ever of God there may be in us, — this can never die, 
but must endure forever. The thought of eternity in 
general and of personal immortality in particular, has 
connected with itself much that is enigmatical. We 
grow dizzy in any attempt that we make at following 
it up. Still we do not need to follow it up to the end, 
any more than we are able, or desire, to conceive fully 
of the existence and essence of God. God and eternity 
both surpass all our powers of thought. But, thanks 
be to God, we can believe in Him; and we can hope 
for an eternal future life, in which all that, during 
this period of infirmity and sin, encumbers the child 
of God, will be laid aside; and life, simply because 
it is life, mil be a simultaneous development of all our 
powers, a continual progress from one glory to an- 
other. Still this progress will not be restless or weari- 
some, but rather a profound, most blessed rest. In- 
deed, that which here on earth is a contrast, namely, 
rest and development, will in the life eternal be only 
one and the same. If for one who here in the flesh is 
unable to use, to its full capacity, his physical 
strength, perhaps because he has been confined to a 
bed of sickness, — if for such an one it is sweet to hope 
for eternal life as a state of existence in which his 
powers will have an opportunity to develop, and new 
spheres of achievement will be open to him so also is 

118 



it sweet for the weary and worn pilgrim to look for- 
ward to that "rest which remains for the people of 
God." 

What joy there is in such contemplation of an 
endless life, with its different stages of existence, and 
with the possibility of meeting and communing with 
the saints in heaven, and of a final reunion of all the 
blessed. How little, too, can we say respecting that 
future life besides this one assurance : "So shall we 
ever be with the Lord." Moreover we can say, "And 
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes," ( Rev. 
7:17). "And there shall be no more death, neither 
sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more 
pain, for the former things are passed away," (Rev. 
21 :4) . Still these brief statements are important, and 
sufficiently glorious to lighten up the dark valley of 
this our present life, and to guard us against the fear 
of death which, more or less, oftener or less frequent- 
ly, affects us all, the old and the young, the godly and 
the ungodly. 

A great man, a truly spiritual man, once said: 
"Why should I fear death? True death, that of the 
natural man, lies behind me ; a painful death it surely 
was. Now I live. I already partake of eternal life, 
and though many a hard stretch is yet before me, and 
many a dark valley must be crossed, the destination 
is a life ever richer, and a glory always brighter." 
Oh, that we all were, or might become, so spiritually 
minded that we could sincerely and humbly join in 
this confession. Blessed are we, if we walk, under the 
guidance of the Holy Spirit, in such a way that he 
will inspire and sustain within us a sure hope of life 
everlasting. How very different, too, our lives would 
become by such an experience, — much more peaceful, 

119 



much safer. Besides, the ending of life with us would 
be joyous; whether, as in some cases, the transition 
to the great beyond comes suddenly and unexpectedly, 
or, as in others, as a long looked-for relief. 

Both of these experiences, in a kind of parable, I 
beheld on two different occasions, in the year 1911. 
On the first day we climbed up a steep path, between 
walls of rock that hid from us the blue sky ; when sud- 
denly a turn in the way brought us to our destination. 
We stood on the heights of the Gemmi Pass, a cozy 
inn being a few steps distant, t Before us lay expanded 
an immense and beautiful mountain panorama, illum- 
inated by the last rays of the setting sun. On the day 
following everything was different. From a deep val- 
ley, on one of the hottest days of the season, we made 
our toilsome way up for many hours, in order to visit 
a small mountain settlement. Our joints became sore, 
physical strength failed us, and our feet almost re- 
fused to do service. But during all that wearisome 
ascent we could see, away up high, our place of desti- 
nation ; it being marked by the steeple of a small vil- 
lage church. For hours that steeple greeted and en- 
couraged us, until finally, to our great relief, the goal 
was reached. I am unable to tell you which of the two 
experiences was the more pleasant, and on which of 
the two evenings we entered our shelter with the 
greater joy and gratitude. In like manner our en- 
trance into our Heavenly Home will be equally joy- 
ous, whether we reach it after a long, wearisome 
journey, or by a sudden departure from this life ; only 
so it is our Heavenly Home that we enter, only so we 
shall be able to confess, "I believe in the life ever- 
lasting;" whether that confession is made on some 
toilsome path of the earthly life, or by an unexpected 
summons. 

120 



II. — Resurrection of the Body 

But it is not only said in our Creed, "I believe in 
the life everlasting/' but also, "I believe in the resur- 
rection of the body." Everlasting life, of which we 
have thus far spoken, is in the first place a spiritual 
life. To us it appears to be so great, glorious and 
comforting in its nature, that, when the body falls to 
pieces and is given to corruption, the spirit may still 
live. Also it is our belief that, even by its liberation 
from the body of this death, the spirit attains to the 
highest and purest stage of life. Will it suffice us, as 
it did so many sages of old, and as it has done with 
so many of our modern scholars, to praise the immor- 
tality of the soul and to accept of that idea, while we 
surrender to death those bodies of ours? Most cer- 
tainly not. Our Christian faith is far richer and more 
satisfying in its teachings; for we know, as Paul 
tells us, that "He who raised up the Lord Jesus, shall 
raise up us also by Jesus," (2 Cor. 4:14). The life 
of Jesus is to be fully manifested in us, even in our 
mortal bodies, "for we who live are always delivered 
unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus 
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh," (2 Cor. 
4:11). For such a manifestation God gives us His 
Spirit as a pledge : "Now He that wrought us for the 
selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us 
the earnest of the Spirit," (2 Cor. 5:5). Indeed, as 
in the account of the man afflicted with palsy, the 
Lord Jesus first said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," and 
then added, "Arise, take up thy bed and go into thine 
house," so in the Apostles' Creed, to the forgiveness 
of sin and the full health of the soul and the eternal 
life involved in that blessing, there is added the resur- 

121 



rection of the body, as a lesser benefit, so to speak. 
Still this resurrection is a matter belonging to that 
complete restoration and perfect renewal of man for 
which the forgiveness of sin through the agency of the 
Holy Spirit is the glorious pledge. Man was created, 
body and soul. The corporality of man is not in itself 
an evil. It was only by sin that it became affected 
with the curse of death and all its consequences. 
Death is now to be expelled from this region ; in death 
Christ's power of life is to be made manifest in the 
creation of a new body, which is to be given to the pur- 
ified and saved spirit as a worthy habitation. 

This body will be a new creation, as Paul so 
lucidly explains in the fifteenth chapter of First Cor- 
inthians. This chapter is really an Easter sermon. 
It should be preached again and again, and with the 
utmost emphasis, in view of the gross materialistic 
notions so current in these times. "But some man will 
say, How are the dead raised up? And with what 
body do they come? Thou fool. That which thou 
sowest is not quickened except it die. And that which 
thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, 
but bare grain, it may chance of wheat or of some 
other grain; but God giveth it a body as it hath 
pleased Him, and to every seed its own body," ( 1 Cor. 
15 :35-38 ) . The body which we now have will crumble 
and corrupt ; a new body, glorious and incorruptible, 
will be formed out of new matter by the omnipotence 
of God. 

A certain connection exists between the body as 
it now is and the future resurrection body. That 
should be so, if for no other reason, than because both 
bodies serve one spirit, as in the case of tents. More- 
over, they bear the stamp of that spirit ; the present 

122 



body the stamp of the sinful spirit, and the resurrec- 
tion body that of the sinless spirit. The Apostle indi- 
cates the secret of this connection by his parable of 
the seed and the fruits. Still all attempts at explain- 
ing this connection, and giving an exact representa- 
tion of the future glorified body, fail, and must neces- 
sarily fail, because we cannot look into the work-shop 
of our God, and see its prospective handiwork. Sure- 
ly, also, that is unnecessary. Let us rather be satis- 
fied with an attempt at gathering from this multi- 
colored and beautiful picture of Holy Writ the truth 
respecting this new body, and respecting that new 
world in which glorified humanity shall live and 
move; that is, the Heavenly Jerusalem, described in 
the Book of Revelation. This is a truth complemen- 
tary to that of eternal life, and which promises, be- 
yond the time during which our present bodies moul- 
der in the grave, and our spirits live in the presence 
of God, a higher state of blessedness when both soul 
and body, being reunited, shall rejoice in the living 
God. And this truth, we may say, becomes doubly 
precious and comforting when we consider the many 
cases of persons suffering from sickness, bodily de- 
formity, and the destruction of physical life. How 
consolatory is the message found in this chapter of 
First Corinthians, when we hear it repeated, either in 
our cemeteries, or upon bloody fields of battle, or in 
hospitals, or at the burning stake of martyrs: "It is 
sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption ; it is 
sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in 
weakness, it is raised in power," (1 Cor. 15:42,43). 



123 



III. — Disposition of the Dead 

Doubtless some of you, at this point in our dis- 
course, are expecting a discussion of cremation, as a 
means of disposing of dead bodies, and one that in 
these times, for aesthetic and sanitary reasons, is so 
highly recommended. Does this method accord, or 
does it not accord, with our belief in the resurrection 
of the body? A most pitiful belief that surely would 
be, for one to hold that God's creative power must 
stop short of the urn. God is able to raise up, and 
will raise up, the new body, in whatever way these 
old bodies of ours may perish, whether by corruption 
or cremation. 

Very justly the Christian Church still clings to 
the old custom of burial, from what it esteems a 
proper respect for the present body, as a noble and 
divine creation which we do not ourselves feel like 
destroying, but would rather surrender to the pro- 
cesses of nature, or in other words, leave in the hands 
of God. We commit our loved ones to the ground 
from that spirit of reverence which loves to visit their 
places of burial and decorate them with green, a beau- 
tiful color that symbolizes both life and hope. Also 
we do this from reverence for the example of our 
Saviour, whose rest in the grave consecrates all our 
graves. And, once more, we thus dispose of the bodies 
of our dead because this custom of putting them in the 
ground so plainly expresses the thought of the seed- 
corn and the coming harvest, a thought which the poet 
thus renders : 

"To the dark lap of Mother Earth 

We now confide what we have made 
As in earth, too, the seed is laid 
In hope the seasons will give birth 
To fruits that soon will be displayed. 

124 



"And yet more precious seed we sow 
With sorrow in the world's wide field; 
And hope, though in the grave laid low, 
A flower of heavenly hue will yield. " 

And so, without claiming overmuch as to the im- 
portance of the question, and without condemning the 
views of others, I judge that we shall continue our 
custom of burial. Still we would have our graves and 
cemeteries to be, not places of sentimental mourning 
and false worship, but gardens where the risen Jesus 
meets us, as once He met Mary Magdalene. Then, too, 
our desire is that they shall be abodes of hope, where 
the triumphant confession is heard : "I believe in the 
resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. " 



CONCLUSION 

Thus may this Creed of the Apostles, with its 
final statement, transfigure our cemeteries and death- 
beds, as with its opening words, "I believe in God the 
Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth/' it 
magnifies the cradle of the child. So also this Con- 
fession, with its testimony respecting Jesus Christ 
and His holy person, and respecting the Holy Ghost 
and his work, answers the deepest questions of minds, 
solves the most important riddles of our lives, and 
points out the true way of happiness. 

Also it might be remarked here yet, that these 
sermons were intended to increase our estimate of 
this old historic Creed, and make it with each of us 
more fully a fruit-bearing possession of faith and life. 
May that purpose have been accomplished. And may 
this Confession resound in our lives, helping us to go 
forward in our way as children of the Heavenly 

125 



Father, as the redeemed of Jesus Christ, and as spirit- 
ual children who are heirs of life everlasting. And 
notwithstanding any attacks that may be made upon 
this Creed, let it always and everywhere resound up- 
on our lips, as even now we say : I believe in God the 
Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. And 
in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was 
conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary ; 
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and 
buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose 
again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and 
sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty ; 
from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the 
dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost ; the holy Christian 
Church ; the communion of Saints ; the resurrection of 
the body, and the life everlasting. 

Amen ! 



126 



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